


Second Generation

by Anonymess



Series: Second Generation [1]
Category: 1/2 Wangzi | 1/2 Prince
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Comedy, Complete, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other, POV Alternating, POV First Person, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 15:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 61,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2392967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymess/pseuds/Anonymess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>16 year old Min Feng Wen is getting ready to start school at XX University, where his father works. However the day he goes to register for classes, he learns that a popular old game called "Second Life" is being brought back to the public after being banned for over 30 years...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Major Spolier Alert!: This takes place seventeen years after the "sequel" to 1/2 Prince. I also researched my Chinese lingo as I went along, so please forgive me if it doesn't seem... accurate.
> 
> 1/2 Prince belongs to Yu Wo, and let's keep it that way.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction I have ever wrote, but still my favorite series as I continue to work on the (much better written) sequel.

It seemed like any other late summer day.

I woke up to the smell of my mother cooking breakfast. Typically I would wake up to an alarm if school was in session, but since it was still summer break that was not necessary! And even better, I had graduated high school and would be attending XX university in the fall! I couldn't help but smile in excitement of the upcoming days till then, and jumped out of my bed.

I walked into the living room just in time to see my uncle and aunt- Feng Yang Ming and Shui Hun- stumbling into the front door. They clung onto each other as the crash landed into the sofa, rumpling up all the neatly folded blankets that were lying on one of the cushions to be stored somewhere.  _Oh boy, Kenshin isn't going to be happy one bit._  I thought to myself. I couldn't just ignore them, Buddha only knows what would happened if I just left them lying there.

"Uh... Yang-shushu, Shui-yima? Would you like some help to your room?" I asked tentatively.

"Ah, Feng Wen! What a good boy!" Was all my uncle spat out before he passed out alongside my aunt. All I could do was sigh as I draped my aunt's arm over my shoulders first. Even with inheriting my mom's ridiculous strength I was still going to have to drag them one at a time. Once I had dragged them both and put them to bed, I walked into our large kitchen. I sat next to my father, Min Gui Win as my mother Xiao Lan put our plates in front of us.

My dad gave my mom a kiss as she sat down to the table across from me. "So I heard the door open, was that your ridiculous uncle and aunt?" my mom asked, eyeing the entryway to the living room.

"...Yup." I replied. My mom glared at the entryway, and slammed her fist against the table which made my dad instinctively duck for cover. I have no idea why, but he always acted like mom was going to hit him every time she got angry.

"We better not get another bill from  _another_  bar for damage. I am so sick of the mail box being filled with them. It's hard to believe that bars are still letting them in after all these years." She mumbled.

"At least Feng Long Ming is sensible, my dear." My dad piped in while looking through the news on his tablet. My father is typically a pretty energetic person, except in the mornings. In the mornings he acts like what most people would expect of a man possessing an IQ of 200- calm and serious. My mom nodded, still visibly annoyed by her brother and sister-in-law's actions.

When I was about two-thirds of the way through my sixth plate, I remembered I actually had plans for once. "Hey mom, I was going to go out today to fill out my class schedule. Is there anything you needed while I'm out?" I asked my mom. My mom stared at me as well as my dad, who stopped reading the news to give me the same look. "W-What?" I couldn't help adding.

My mom bit the bottom of her lip, "Ar-Are you sure, Feng Wen? Your father can do that for you, since you will be going to the same university  
he teaches at..."

"Yes son, it won't be a problem if I do! In fact, I want you to take my introductory literature class anyway! It'll be easier if I do it." My dad added on. Their reactions whenever I went out alone were always really annoying.  _I'm a good kid! I don't smoke, drink or play around with girls. Just because I'm 16 doesn't mean I should still be followed around by my parents!_

"Guys no, I want to do this myself. I can handle it! I'll even take the hover bike instead of taking the public transit!" I said, determined.

My parents shared one more glance with each other before they looked back at me. "Alright." My mother conceded, "But you need to be back by four o'clock, Xiao Xiao Lan and Zhou-gege are coming over for dinner!" I was beaming; _I get to go out by myself and my big sister and her husband coming over tonight as well! This is going to be an awesome day!_

I bid my parents farewell, and gave back a Meatbun-bun to my mom that tackled me at the last second, crying for me not to go. I jumped on the hover bike and slammed on the accelerator, blasting out of the vehicle port. Could have sworn I heard my dad said as I took off, "Dear, he is too much like you."

* * *

_XX University has a huge club devoted to the history of Second Life, particular that of the members of the Odd Squad. How could it not, when it had featured not one but possibly three of the original members. Li Tian Lang's priest, Ugly Wolf, is the most famous priest in all of gaming and was at one point the school's head nurse. The demon bard Guiliastes, known for his breath taking beauty and obsession with the leader of the Odd Squad is actually the head of the literature program at XX university- Min Gui Wen. Thanks to technological advancement, at the age of sixty-three years old he is still as handsome as he was when he was twenty-six. As for the third, well..._

_Legend goes that Prince actually attended XX University._

The thought of Prince made me do a little squeal. I don't care if he would be fifty-seven at this time, he probably would still be as hot as ever. I probably shouldn't have been daydreaming instead of writing my paper in the library.  _Get it together, Fang Hua! This paper is due tomorrow, and Professor Min will not be happy if it's late!_

All hope was lost for my paper when  _he_ walked in. A young man with jaw length black hair, elegant facial features and brown eyes that could weaken the knees of a heterosexual man walked in with a confused expression on his face. While most girls my age would just think of him as the bishie to end all bishies, I was more literate.

_He looked just like Prince._

Of course there were some color differences and round ears, but I was not expecting Prince to ever be an albino in real life. But outside of those differences, they looked almost identical to each other outside of this guy actually being a little taller than what records of Prince say. I watched the Prince clone furrow his brow in even more confusion. His eyes seemed to search his surroundings, and settled on me. Then he started walking towards me.  _Buddha, please help me remain calm in the presence of this glorious being!_

"Uh... Hello, could I ask you a question?" He asked in hush voice. I almost lost my composure at the sound of his voice.  _He even sounds similar to him from the voice recordings!_

"Sure! What do you need?" I replied, putting on my cutest smile I could muster.

"I was heading towards the Administrative office and somehow I ended up here... Could you point me in the direction of it?" He sounded embarrassed by what happened.

"Oh you're not too far from it. Just keep going down the hall and take a left at the next hallway. It's the second door on the right." I said.

Then he stunned me and practically the whole library with such a beautiful smile. "Thank you so much!" Then he walked out the door,  
seemingly oblivious to all the stares trying to burn an image of him into their memories.

* * *

It took me another fifteen minutes to find the office, but I was in and out of there faster than it took me to get there in the first place. With my classes set up for the fall semester, I decided I would go and stop by the mall to get my mom some fresh meat buns to apologize for making her worry so much. When I got the meat buns for my mom (For some reason I got a 50% discount from the cashier girl, maybe it was a special?), I noticed a large crowd gathering around the electronics store. Curious, I weaved into the crowd to see what the commotion was.

"I know you don't believe it, but believe me folks! Ask yo' mothers, ask yo' fathers, heck as yo' grandparents! The infamous  _Second Life_  Virtual Reality game is coming back online as  _Life 2.0_! Get it while you can folks!" The cheesy salesman rattled off, thrusting gaming helmets out in one hand and receiving cash in another. The salesman turned to me, and when he did his eyes widen a bit. This caused the rest of the crowd to quiet down, with older people murmuring among each other. The salesman asked me, "Young man! What is your name?"

Startled, I sputtered out "U-Uh... Min Feng Wen."

"Well Min Feng Wen, you are our grand prize winner for the look-alike contest! Your prize is a  _Life 2.0_ headset!" And with that he stuffed it in my arms, and began rattling off the same sales pitch as before. Bewildered, I decided to just leave the store and go home.


	2. Chapter 2

When I got to our family's vehicle port, I approached the house door to unlock it when I heard my dad start wailing, " **XIAOOO LANNN WHAT IF OUR PRECIOUS SON GOT LOST AGAINNN?** "

"Gui, you're being annoying." Two voices chimed in together. One was my mom's voice, and the other was a familiar male voice I could only deduce was Zhou-gege's. Excited, I opened the door to greet my family. I found my dad crouched at my mom's feet, sniffling into her shirt. On the other couch was Xiao Xiao Lan with her hair pulled back in a bun, wearing a pretty blue dress. She was holding hands with a good looking man with blonde hair who was none other than her husband and my brother-in-law Zhou-gege.

"Hi guys, I'm back!" I called happily, putting the bag of meatbuns on the table as well as the bag I found to put the headset in. My dad was his usual self and grabbed me in a bear hug, telling me how much he missed me as well as how worried he was about me getting lost. Even though this happens every time I leave the house, it's still really embarrassing in front of other people. "Dad, stop! You're making a scene!" I cried, muffled by my face been smothered into his chest.

"Feng Wen did you not miss your father!? We do not get to spend enough time together as it is, don't be so cold!" My dad reprimanded, letting me go to finally breath again. Zhou-gege was rolling his eyes while my sister and mother were snickering.

"No dad, I missed you too. I really did!" My dad's face lit up with a goofy grin. Since he was finally detached from my mom, I scooped up the bag of meatbuns and put them in her lap. "Here you go mom, I brought you a little something on the way back. That's why I was late." It was my mom's turn for her face to light up, and she happily stuffed an entire meatbun in her mouth. It amazes me that Lan-jiejie didn't get the same appetite as I did from mom.

I went over and hugged my sis and brother-in-law, then I sat down on the other side of Lan-jiejie on the couch. My sis and I shared a look, silently transmitting our amusement at how this family gathering was starting. Even though Lan-jiejie and I were 16 years apart, we were like best friends. We always lamented to each other about the ridiculous names our parents gave us, though I think Lan-jiejie got the worst of it. When I came around, none of our extended family wanted to see me turn into something ridiculous like "Min Gui Gui" so my aunt and uncle helped. Of course, they employed the same strategy they did when they named my cousin Feng Long Ming so I ended up as Min Feng Wen.

Mom brought me back from my thoughts when she asked, "So what classes did you sign up for? We were just discussing you starting college when your father expressed his... concern for you."

I rubbed my chin, staring at the coffee table trying to remember what I had signed up for. "Let's see... Computer science, programming, physics..." I looked up to see my dad with a pitiful face, his lips in a pout and his eyes gleaming with incoming tears. "... And literature." I finished, my dad's goofy face returning at the end of my sentence. I was a bit different from my immediate family which consisted of a writer, literature professor and my sister recently getting a job as a journalist. I was into computers and technology, building my first computer at the age of four. But I promised my dad I would take all his literature classes since he was head of the program, so there went all my elective classes.

"That sounds wonderful, son!" My dad exclaimed, obviously he cared more about his own class than the others I listed off. "Did anything else interesting happen, today?"

The incident at the mall popped up in my head, and I glanced at the bag with the headset. "Well... There was one other thing. When I went to the mall to get mom her meatbuns, there was some sort of game being re-released and there was a huge commotion going about it. I think it's old name was like... Second something."

As the last two words left my mouth, my entire family froze. The oldest three- mom, dad, and Zhou-gege- all glanced at each other with a horrified expression. My mom was the first to break the silence, "W-Wow that's really something, dear. Is there anything else that happened while you were there?"

That question made me suspicious, because the next thing that happened was the most perplexing thing out of the entire incident. "Yes, actually. When I got to where the salesman was, he stopped what he was doing and stared at me. He asked who was I was, and I told him my name. He then told me I won some lookalike contest and..." I stood up and took the headset out of the bag, "Gave me a headset for free."

My parents and Zhou-gege looked like they had just seen a ghost. My sis just sat there staring at the headset, biting her lip like she was in deep thought. My dad took the headset out of my hand gently, and sat down with it on his lap. he looked over it a bit, and then turned to my mom. He mumbled something, but I know I heard one word clearly. And that word was  _Prince_.

"Prince?" I asked, "What prince? You know, now that you mentioned it I think I heard someone in the crowd say that too..." Thinking back to when people were staring at me. I heard a door open behind me, the door to my uncle and aunt's room.  _They must be out of their drunken stupor now._ I watched as my aunt walked out of the door, like she had never been completely trashed seven hours ago.

" **LOLIDRAGON, TELL ME WHAT IS UP WITH THIS** ** _LIFE 2.0_** **BUSINESS RIGHT NOW!** " My mom screamed, lunging from the couch all the way to my aunt, tackling her to the floor. I was so glad mom had not been cooking, because she was in that mode where if she had her kitchen knife everything would be in danger of being hacked in half with my father cowering in a corner, screaming for Kenshin to restrain her.

Right on cue to my thought, Kenshin in his pink apron walked from the kitchen and grabbed my mom from behind her arms, dragging her off of my aunt. She was angrier than I thought, as she was kicking and screaming at Kenshin to let her go. Thankfully my dad and Zhou-gege came to Kenshin's rescue to restrain the rest of her limbs. "You told me that Second Life would never be available to the public again! Has Long-ba gone crazy!?"

I helped my aunt up, and she brushed the wrinkles out of her designer clothing she was always wearing. "I told you that Second Life would never be available in the state it was  _then_." Shui-yima replied, "However about six months ago we found a back up of the game we didn't even know existed. A back up of all the information prior to the Revolt. With a few tweaks here and there, we have made it that such an occurrence will never happen again."

"So that means all our character data is the same from before that whole event?" Zhou-gege asked.

"Yes. It would have been about the time the final concert for Infinite Band that the back up was made. It was probably made in preparation of the influx of users that would be on for the finale." Shui-yima nodded, however her expression was conflicted. "What I don't understand is if this back-up was created before the Revolt, why couldn't we have just used it and avoided everything that had happened..."

If my confusion of the whole situation wasn't bad enough, the Dictator of Life, my mom's personal assistant, appeared in his holographic form. "That is because at the time, Father gained control of the whole system. They attempted to use it but they were locked out. I was fairly certain Father had deleted it from the network." Shui-yima looked as though she had a moment of clarity.

"That makes sense, especially since we found it on an ancient USB drive. No wonder it was looked over, no one would ever have thought they could have saved the back up on such an ancient piece of technology!"

"Wait, wait!" My mom interjected, looking just as confused as I was. "Okay so, they found a backup of the game before the Revolt happened. So what about..." She didn't finished her sentence, only looked at Kenshin and the Dictator of Life. My aunt seemed to have understood what she meant. However when she was about to answer, she glanced at me with concern.  _What the Hell is going on?_

"No, there is not duplicates. There were not since they were... Special cases." My aunt replied carefully. "But they may enter the game as players or take on their former roles." She glanced at the Dictator of Life.

It seemed like all their brains were turning their cogs, thinking over this entire conversation. I on the other hand, was still trying to piece together what they were actually talking about.  _So apparently this game was around when they were younger, and there was some sort of game event that caused so much trouble that crashed the entire game for good? But what was the whole "Father" business from the Dictator of Life? Did his designer decide he didn't like the game event, and tried to take over the game?_

My uncle slammed the door to his room open, and entered the living room yelling, "Sis, I'm hungry! When's dinner?" Completely oblivious to a room full of people thinking really hard. My mom gave him a disgruntled look, and shook off all three of her restrainers.

"Thankfully I put something in the oven a couple of hours ago." She said as she walked into the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

Dinner was unusually quiet, even with Zhou-gege and Lan-jiejie over. Typically when they came over, my dad would relentlessly go on about Zhou-gege stealing his daughter away, with Zhou-gege barely being restrained from throwing his plate by my sister's grip and my mother's glares at the idea of someone wasting her meal. Then my aunt would say something silly like Zhou-gege taking mom away as well, which would invoke my parents' fury. But no, instead there was the topic from earlier playing the role of the white elephant in the room. Even my uncle seemed to have quieted down after my aunt whispered into his ear.

How could a simple game cause such a reaction out of my  _entire_  family? I wish Feng Long Ming was here instead of studying aboard for his doctorate. If he didn't already know about the subject (Which I had a feeling he did since my sister obviously did with her reactions.), we could put our heads together and figure it out. I don't know what was making me angrier: being ignorant or how my family was acting over a single game. Either way, I had enough and announced, "You know, it would be great if someone told me what was going on!"

My aunt started coughing like she swallowed her food the wrong way, startling everyone. Once she regained her composure, she looked at my mom. My mom replied with an expression of uncertainty, which she turned to my dad. This basically went around the table till everyone's gaze landed back on me.  _No matter what is, I really don't see how this is a big deal._ _It's just a game, for God's sake._

"It's complicated, Feng Wen. Second Life was an extremely popular Virtual Reality RPG, almost everyone in the world played it. However something went terribly wrong at the height of its popularity, and it was closed for good." My aunt said, with a tone of caution.

"But it wasn't closed for good, evidently. Since it's being brought back under a new name." I scanned the rest of my family across the table. The look of discomfort in  
my parents' eyes was evidence that Shui-yima was telling the truth.

"Yes, only because of the back up that was found six months ago. We edited it so that way those problems will never happen again." With that, the expression on Shui-yima's face was one of finality. I wasn't going to get anything else out of her, and I knew I wouldn't get anything from anyone else either. The scariest person after my mom when angered was Shui-yima, so no one dared cross her outside of my mom.

I was determined to get to the bottom of it. There was nothing I hated more than being left in the dark. And the best way it seemed would be to use what was given to me- the game itself.  _After all if nothing too major was changed to the game's engine and data, then the game should virtually be the same._

"Well then, alright. Since it was so popular and now it's safe to play, I think I might try it out too. It would be a waste to not use the expensive item that was given to me, right?" With that, I got up from the dinner table, put my plate in the dishwasher and left the kitchen. My destination was my bedroom, with the headset in hand.

_Time for my little adventure!_

* * *

**Min Xiao Lan's PoV:**

Gui's intelligence plus my bullheadness in one individual equals a massive headache for everyone. If Feng Wen isn't satisfied with something, he won't directly go against us. No, instead he finds little loopholes, always staying within the technicalities. It took many severe threats towards Kenshin to make Arctic Fox back off from trying to recruit him just because of this little talent of his.  _What is with both of my children being recruited by the mafia?_

I put my hand to my forehead as Feng Wen walked out with an aura of determination. I shot a glance at Gui, trying to perform telepathy with him.  _That is **your**  son causing us all a_  _headache!_

The only one who didn't look like they had a headache was Lolidragon, who only had a smirk on her face as she looked at the entryway where Feng Wen had just past through. We heard a door shut, knowing it was Feng Wen's. "You know, I felt like we were back at the Adventurer's tournament, for the final battle. The way he walked away with the air of determination was just like Prince's back then."

I really didn't know what to say, since I can't exactly view the back of myself now or back then. But I saw Gui had nodded in agreement, a smile appearing on his face as if he relived the memory. "It doesn't help he looks so much like Prince as well." He added.

"I disagree. I think he looks more like you, Gui!" I rebutted. While I can't disagree that he has my eyes, that jet black hair and handsome features were from his father!

Gui looked like he was about to argue further over where our son's good looks came from when Zhou-gege said, "Sorry to interrupt, but I think Lolidragon was making a subtle point with her comment." I looked at Lolidragon with curiosity,  _what could she be implying?_

Lolidragon rolled her eyes when she saw her husband had just as much of a confused expression as I. "It can't be helped that the Feng twins are oblivious to nearly everything." I stuck my tongue out at her, but she ignored it. "I am saying that we can't shelter him from the truth anymore. I know we all agreed to do it because of the incidents that happened when Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming were little as well as how uncanny Feng Wen's appearance is from Prince's. Even if he doesn't play the game, surely he will learn when he attends XX University where everyone knows his father's identity."

"Not only that, but there is actually a club dedicated to the Odd Squad at XX University since the Second Life era. And of course, it consists mainly of women because of Prince's and Dad's appearance..." Xiao Xiao Lan added.

"How would you know that, dear...?" Zhou-gege asked.

Xiao Xiao Lan looked embarrassed and confessed, "Well I mean it's not like it was a huge secret on campus... And I might have attended a meeting or two... Though hearing women talk endlessly about how much they want to kiss your parents is kind of weird."

_That would be weird_. And looking at everyone else, I wasn't the only one who thought that.

"I'm not concerned about him finding out our identities, my concern is someone else finding out his." Gui said, suddenly quite serious. "That's the main reason why we have had to do what we have done. He went to private school, he has barely left the house without one of us accompanying him, so on and so forth. Heck, he is only attending XX University because I am there and the dean knows our situation. No matter how much Xiao Lan and I might playfully argue back and forth who he looks more like, it is no argument he bares a striking resemblance Prince."

"And that is why-" Lolidragon pointing a finger at all of us, "We're just going to have to play too, to make sure our dearest Feng Wen doesn't run into some unwanted company while he is on his little adventure." Lolidragon then wiggled her finger to herself, beckoning us to all huddle together. "Here's the plan, first we..."

* * *

**Min Feng Wen's PoV:**

I'm not a big gamer, but I knew that most Virtual Reality games were bundled up in their brand's helmet, resulting in a selection screen when you first entered the virtual reality. However, this was not the case with the  _Life 2.0_ helmet. Instead, I was thrown into pitch black, not even able to see my own body. After a minute, a bright light blinded me. When I got used to the light, I was greeted by a pretty woman sitting in a floating chair. I don't know who was more surprised, me from the sudden appearance of someone or the woman, who's eyes widen considerably when she saw me. _I guess I materialized out of nowhere as well._

"Welcome to  _Life 2.0!_  I am here to help you create your character. Give us a few minutes to scan your body and vocal frequency." She said, sounding quite professional. A scanner of some sort ran up and down my body, and suddenly different "versions" of me appeared. "Please select a race for your character."

I was pretty dumbfounded. I repeat, I barely play video games. I couldn't help but scratch my cheek absently, unsure what to do. I only really knew what kind of classes that these types of games had to offer, and I wanted to be a warrior. After all, if I was playing by myself for even a little while, a warrior was the most self-sufficient beginner class. "What would you recommend to me if I wanted to be a warrior?" I asked the pretty lady.

The lady smiled slyly, "Well, most people would typically pick a beast since they have high stamina and strength, or a human which are quite balanced in their stats." She removed all the races except beast and human. I took both of them in seriously. While human  _looked_  nicer, I wasn't in this for looks. I wanted to be successful in my class so I can continue on my real reason for the game. Just when I was about to announce I wanted to be a beast, the lady added, "However, the famous Prince of Second Life was an elven warrior. And one of his generals of his city was also one as well."

This immediately caught my attention, since this "Prince of Second Life" seemed to be a major key in my search. "Prince? What about this person? Who is he, anyway?" I couldn't help but ask all these questions.

The woman seemed genuinely surprised by these questions, but looked torn at the same time. "Unfortunately, I am not allowed to say much about Prince as it conflicts with company policy. I can however tell you he was the most famous player of Second Life, if not the world; and one of the top warriors as well."

_This gets more interesting ever step I take!_  I smirked, my decision made. "Well if that is so, I think I will also pick the elves as my race!" I said definitively. The lady waved her hand again, and the elf version of me appeared. It really didn't look that much different outside of having long, pointed ears.  _Huh, those ears actually make me look pretty cool..._

The women seemed to have problems being professional, as her face was plastered with grin goofier than what my dad usually has. She seemed to have realized her expression, and shook her head violently. "Are there any other changes you would like to make to your character? Hair color? Eye color?"

_I could care less about my appearance, but I suppose I should change something up just in case. After all it is a game, you're not suppose to be exactly yourself._  In my apathy I shrugged, "I don't know, make my eyes purple or something." A flick of her wrist and the elven me had dark purple eyes.  _It's definitely different from my dark brown eyes! "_ Yup, I think I'm ready now!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Ughh..._  Was the first thought I had after regaining consciousnesses.  _She could have warned me she was going to just drop me into nothing, instead of grinning like a moron._ I pulled my head up, spitting the dirt out of my mouth since I landed face first. I sat myself up, and took in my new surroundings. There were already quite a few people milling about the town that I was in, all of them some type of elf.  _I guess this is the elf starting village_. Some individuals noticed me sitting there in the middle of the road, and had confused expressions on their face. One of them was a woman, and while she did look like she was perplexed, there was also a certain kind of... Hunger in her eyes.  _I got a bad feeling about this..._  I instinctively got up and ran to the nearest building, slamming the door behind me.

I rested my back against the door, and looked at where I had entered. It was a simple general store, with a NPC glaring daggers at me from behind his counter. All the sudden there was a strong push against the door, but not strong enough to force it open against the pressure I was putting on it. I realized that I shouldn't be standing in front of the door, and opened the door slightly. I was greeted with at least five girls staring at me with that same hungered expression from earlier. I slammed the door back closed, and braced myself in against it.  _What do they want with me!?_

"Hey, those are potential customers out there! How can I make a living if you are keeping them out of my shop!?" The NPC man yelled at me, shaking his fist in the air.

"Your 'potential customers' are trying to gang up on me! I do not feel like dying in the game this early!" I snapped back at him, returning his glare.

"You're just like that fellow Prince when he first came in here, causing a ruckus! Now get out of my shop before I alert the guards!" The NPC huffed, a large frown on his face.  _There's that guy, again! I guess his name is actually 'Prince', what an unoriginal name._  Just as I was to resign myself to the fate of what felt like a growing number of women, I saw a hand pop out from the hallway next to counter, gesturing me to come towards it. I prepared myself mentally, and broke out in a sprint to the hallway, towards the door that the hand was coming from. I dived into the room, as the door clicked shut behind me. I heard a chorus of women go, "Where did he go!?" as I let out a breath of relief.  _Too close._

It only occurred to me that I may have just fallen into some sort of trap when I heard the door lock as well. It seemed to be confirmed when the lone figure in the room stepped out of the shadows to reveal a very pretty girl with long, blonde hair. She smiled sweetly at me, and offered her hand. I figured it was too late for me, and took her hand. She pulled me up, and ran her eyes around me. Her eyes didn't show that hungering expression though, instead it was if she knew something I didn't. "We better go through the back door, don't want them figuring out you're back here, right?" She said in a melodious voice. All I could do was nodded, and followed her.

"May I ask who you are?" I asked as we went through a door that lead outside to the fields surrounding the little village. We were walking on a small dirt pathway, which was going uphill.

"My name is Ice Phoenix! And the man just up ahead waiting for us is my husband, Nan Gong Zui." She said, walking along the pathway. Sure enough, as we reached the top of the little hill was a man waiting about half a mile down. When we reached him, he greeted his wife with a hug and looked at me. He carried a similar expression to Ice Phoenix moments ago, as if he saw something that I couldn't see!

"As I am sure my wife has told you, my name is Nan Gong Zui. And you are...?" The man in armor asked.

"I am Yi Min." I replied.  _I gave Prince crap for being unoriginal, while I sound like a narcissist*..._

Both Nan Gong Zui and Ice Phoenix had an amused smile on their face, which was a better response to my name than them thinking I was arrogant. How was I to know that character creator lady couldn't tell I was talking to myself?  _Now that I'm thinking clearly, what does this couple want with me? Surely Ice Phoenix was not hanging around in a backroom for kicks and giggles._ "Thank you for saving me, but may I ask why?"

"We heard there was a commotion going on in this village, so his Majesty sent us down here to investigate. That's when we found you being chased, so we figured it was best for you and the village that we got you out of there." Nan Gong Zui replied.

"His Majesty? This wouldn't happen to be Prince, would it?" I asked, now quite glad I met these two.  _They have connections to Prince!_

Nan Gong Zui looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "Yes, his Majesty is Prince. He is the Lord of the Central Continent and Infinite City, which is at the center of the continent. I am one of his generals."

"Really? So that means you could take me to meet him, right?" I asked, hoping that maybe they could.  _This would make this quest about ten times shorter!_

"Technically we could, but we will not. His Majesty is a very busy man, and only those that earn the right to be in his presence actually get the chance to enter the castle, let alone an audience with him. You will have to somehow attract his interest, only then can you meet him." Nan Gong Zui said.

_Damn, not like I wasn't expecting that. But I was still hoping for it. From what I gathered, it seems I can't really go back to the village to get my class change because it's going to be too much trouble. I'm sure the cities have those same types of NPCs, though. Maybe I can use this to my advantage..._

"Nan Gong Zui, once again I thank you for saving me. But I fear that now I cannot enter the village without being attacked. Would you mind if I accompany you to Infinite City? I know I am only a level one, but I will do my best not to hinder you. If I die during the travel, then carry on without me!"

Nan Gong Zui and Ice Phoenix looked at each other with conflicted expressions, then back to me. "I suppose it is the least we can do. We have no other assignments outside of reporting back to the castle, after all."

As we traveled, I made sure to level up along the way. I would run ahead of Nan Gong Zui and Ice Phoenix and kill the newbie monsters. I didn't really enjoy killing the monsters, but I enjoyed the part of  _winning_ against them _._  I'm a pretty competitive guy, as long as I win in some aspect or form I'm happy, even if it involves the opponent's death. When death was imminent for my opponent though, like in this case, I tried to make it as painless and swift as possible. Pretty soon I was the level required to have a class change, and we weren't even a quarter of the way there yet!

"You seem quite talented with the blade, young man. You killed those monsters in two hits or less." Nan Gong Zui said, impressed.

"It's nothing, really. All you need to know is the weak points of the monsters, as well as calculating how much needs to be applied to said weak points to achieve a critical hit. It makes things clean, simple and painless for both parties. I hate the idea of spilling blood unnecessarily." I replied.

Nan Gong Zui burst out laughing at my last sentence, threatening to hit the floor from how strong his laughter was. Ice Phoenix prevented this by holding on to him, though she seemed like she was controlling herself from laughing. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Nan Gong Zui was finally regaining his composure a bit. "It is just hearing that is something I am not used to at all. Especially from a warrior!"

_What bizarre people._ I thought, feeling a slight blush on my face.  _Is it really that odd for a warrior to want to finish things with as little trouble as possible?_  The rest of the trip went smoothly, and quietly. There was some small talk here and there, such as what Infinite City looked like or where particular places were in Infinite City. But nothing too important. When we got to the city square, Nan Gong Zui pointed me in the direction of NPC for the warrior class, and we all parted. I couldn't help but stand still and watch them walk towards the formidable fortress that was Infinite Castle.

_Somewhere in there is Prince, the holder of my answers. But I can only reach him if I can prove myself in some way or form._ I turned in the direction that Nan Gong Zui said I needed to go, my back facing the castle. "I'll see you soon, Prince."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * According to the internet, Yi Min means "Smart".


	5. The Return of a Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it would be cool to have "bonus chapters" from Prince's perspective every now and then. They are not necessary to the plot of the story, but they sometimes might go a bit more into detail of certain events that happened in the main plot line (Feng Wen). I hope you like them, because I liked writing them.~

With Lolidragon's plan in mind, Gui and I slipped into bed with the headsets she gave us. She said we would not be automatically logged into the game since our character data had to be migrated into the proper format when we first logged in. Before we put our headsets on, Gui turned to me. "Dear..."

"Yes, Gui?" I looked back at him, still fiddling around with the strap adjustments for the headset.

"How should we act in the game, now? I mean things are...  _very_ different from 35 years ago." The question surprised me a little, and I was unsure how to answer it. Gui was right, things were drastically different.  _All of the Odd Squad is married now, for one... What am I saying? Gui and I are married and have two kids! I don't want to think about how the rabid fan girls would react to that kind of news, not to mention my gender is still a secret to most of the world..._

"I think we should play it safe and just act like we did in front of the public. We can always act like ourselves in front of the people who do know, as well in the privacy of the castle." I replied, after thinking of all of this.

Gui pouted, "But I don't like the idea of those girls throwing themselves at you again! I want the whole world to know that I have won Prince's heart!"

I leaned over and gave him a comforting kiss. "My dear, I don't like the fan girls any more than you do. But we have to keep it this way for now, especially with Feng Wen in the game. We don't want to give him any hints on his search, right?" I winked at my husband, who seemed to understand my reasoning. Although still disgruntled at our plan, he conceded to it on the condition I didn't beat him up every time he threw himself at me. We then put on our headsets, a feeling of going back in time washing over me. A time before the Revolt...

It seemed like an eternity, but when I finally opened my eyes again I was in a very familiar place. The stone walls and wood floor, decorated in red, gold and white. I felt warm under a large blanket and my head on top of a plush pillow. I stared up at the ceiling only to meet a red canopy of a four poster bed.  _So my last location was my bed chambers before this backup..._

I got out of the bed, and slipped on the familiar feeling of my armor. I looked in the body length mirror near my dresser to see Prince in all his beauty, staring back at me.  _This will take some time to get used to._  Just then, my door slammed open and I was tackled to the ground by an unknown, yet light weight source. Once I got my vision back I saw that on top of me was none other than my husband in his character's form, Guiliastes. "I see the first thing you did was come look for me." I said.

Gui tightened his grip on me, "How could I not want to see my beautiful wife!?" I couldn't help but smile and let Gui give me a kiss. A cough came from the open doorway, and I looked to see Lolidragon with a lewd smile on her face.

"I always dreamed the day I'd see Prince and Guiliastes in the throes of passion in Prince's bedchambers!" Teased Lolidragon, her smile turning into a grin. Gui and I stood up, feeling a bit hot in the face being caught in such a private moment by my sister-in-law.

"Can you be anymore embarrassing, Lolidragon?" I asked.

"Calm down, calm down. I only came up here to give you a little status report on Feng Wen!" She replied.

"Status report?" Gui and I asked.

"Yes, it seems Feng Wen is following in his mother's footsteps of being chased by girls already." Lolidragon said, her smile now changing into one of amusement.  _As if I didn't see that coming, my poor son! If only I was there to teach you my Ultimate Run-for-My-Life-Qing-Gong-Technique!_

"Is he alright?" Gui asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Yes, yes. As soon as I first heard of it I sent Nan Gong Zui and Ice Phoenix down there to save him. He shouldn't be able to recognize either of them since they're off on missions so much!" Gui and I both breathed a sigh of relief. No one would dare mess with Nan Gong Zui!

"However, there might be a minor problem because of the characteristics he chose for his character." Lolidragon added. _  
_

"What do you mean by 'problem'?" Gui asked, narrowing his eyes.

"For some reason Feng Wen chose to be an elven warrior, with the only physical characteristic he changed was his eyes being dark purple." Lolidragon said, exasperated. I looked at the mirror again, that showed Gui and I together now.  _What a troublesome child..._


	6. Chapter 5

I really hate inheriting my mother's sense of direction.

Well, more like lack thereof. Even though I went the direction Nan Gong Zui pointed towards, I ended up a good mile away from the NPC. When I finally got to the NPC, there was huge line in front of him. The majority were elves with either short white hair, red eyes or both!  _How bizarre, maybe they are all part of some guild or cult?_ The entirety of the time in the line, multiple people in the line kept looking at me, either impressed or with disgust. I figured that to prevent being bothered again by anyone, I would wear an icy expression out in public. It seemed to be working too, women stared at me with longing, but did not dare to get near me.  _People on these games are so weird._

It was finally my turn to talk to the NPC, who was a muscular man with brown cropped hair. However, even though he looked quite strong, his expression showed he was quite fatigued. When he looked at me, he blinked a couple of times. Then he rubbed his eyes, and looked at me again, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "My God, someone who isn't tryin' to be an exact copycat of his Lordship!" He exclaimed, thrusting his arms in the air.

"His Lordsh- Oh, you mean that guy Prince!" I said, finally putting two and two together.  _That makes some sense, since he's so popular and famous. People would want to copy him! So now I have a vague idea what this guy looks like._ I looked back at the people behind me, who all had some combination of white hair and red eyes.

"What are ya', stupid? And that's his Majesty or his Lordship or whatever ya' be calling the Overlord. No one but those closest to him or dumb enough to not show him respect calls him by his name." The NPC reprimanded me, waggling his finger right at my nose. He squinted his eyes, getting uncomfortably close to me face. "Ya' know now that I look at ya', you look like a mix of-"

"Well you just hurry up and change that guy's class!? I've been waiting in this line for two hours already!" A guy about ten people behind me shouted. Murmurs rippled through the line, all in agreement with the guy.

The NPC glared at the guy, "Shut yer' trap or maybe I'll get the guards down here!" He then turned to me, "Alright kid. You got the stuff so yer' a warrior now." He handed me a small pouch and then shooed me away. I went somewhere with less people, and opened the pouch. The pouch was one given to everyone when they selected their class, and gave them a random weapon that fit their new class. Since I was a warrior, I drew out a beautiful short sword.

A short sword wasn't as powerful as a dao or two handed sword, but it was quicker and had more accuracy which I preferred. I was an agility warrior, so I wanted to strike fast and multiple times with deadly aim. Smiling, I sheathed it and started to stroll towards the city center. When I got to the center, I sat next on the low wall of the garden that was in the center. _This is my second night on Life 2.0, since we stopped at the half way point to Infinite City to log off. Even so, it has been an eventful two days with all sorts of things that I never thought I would experience happening._  I was yanked out of my thoughts by a loud crowd gathering together towards the castle, girls screamed "Kyaa! Prince is going to make his first appearance in over thirty years!"

I ran over immediately, trying to push myself through to crowd so I could get a good view of the balcony that people were gathering towards. A figure walked to the edge of the railing, a strong looking man with a tattoo on his face.  _It's Nan Gong Zui!_

"Infinite City, I give you your City Lord, the Blood Elf Prince!" He boomed, the crowd going wild at the mention of Prince's name. He walked back to the castle, and another figure approached. His aura was dominating, you could feel the power he held even from the crowd, which silenced at the sight of him. He was dressed in blood red armor that matched his fierce eyes, a black cloak draped around his shoulders. His hair was a snowy white, with a face that would put so many men to shame. Crowned on his forehead was a black diadem. The most thought provoking thing however, was this intense feeling of deja vu.  _Why does it feel like I've seen this guy before?_

He ran his eyes through the crowd, as if sizing up everyone. When his gaze ran to my section, I could have sworn he looked directly at me. And for a good few seconds as well. I shook my head, trying to dispel my crazy thoughts.  _Your imagination is acting up, again! Just because people look at you doesn't mean you're so important that even the most famous player in the world is going to pay attention to you!_

"Infinite City!" Prince exclaimed, his voice clear and sharp.

The crowd went into an uproar again, chanting "Prince! Prince!". He gestured his hands for the crowd to settle, which they did instantly.

"It has been far too long since I have walked this balcony, and gazed upon this beautiful city and continent that we call home! But neither this place nor I weaken with time, and will be evident as we go forward. To celebrate the return of Infinite City, we will be holding a week long festival. There will be several events including a battle tournament for warriors, the victor being able to battle me one on one." Prince announced, greeting his followers with a dazzling smile. As expected, the crowd went nuts over his words and smile. I heard many warriors talking among themselves, all about how they will join the tournament.  _A battle with Prince, huh? I may not win against him, but I'm not interested in that, anyway. I'm interested in getting him to talk to me._

The City Lord waved at the crowd, and walked back to his castle, his cloak fluttering behind him. The crowd started to disperse, but I continued to stare towards the balcony, contemplating my next move. Another figure ran to the railing on the balcony, and leaned over it as if they were looking for something. I didn't get to see their face because as soon as they appeared, someone else came up behind them and dragged them back quickly. All I saw was the person had long, black hair. Shrugging it off, I walked towards the Adventurer's Guild to look for parties I could join. I had no plans to become part of a team, but I still needed a party to level up quickly.  _I'm going to get in that tournament, and I'm going to win damn it._

* * *

Four days and forty levels later, I was finally at the level where I could enter into the tournament.  _They make everyone level fifty so that everyone is on equal footing, but you still have to be level fifty or over to actually enter the tournament. Makes sense, because that way you don't have someone inexperienced entering the tournament._  Unfortunately I was struck with a problem- I didn't have enough money to enter the tournament. Probably another way to prevent inexperienced players, the price for entry was a staggering one hundred crystal coins. I had a measly fifty gold coins, which adds up to about half of a crystal coin.

I sat down on a bench, burying my head in my hands. I had no idea what to do, and this felt like this was the best, if not only chance I had to get to Prince without slaving away from months, maybe even years to get his attention. No matter how much I thought, I couldn't think of a solution other than robbing someone, which would not be a good idea. The only quests that gave rewards in crystal coins were extremely high levels and required parties of the same. Mobs I could kill by myself or with a party were still in the high silver to low gold coins range, and I had no kind of trade to make money with. On top of it all was that the tournament was only a couple of days away now, so even if I enslaved myself to the game I wouldn't have enough in time.

I felt someone sit beside me on the bench, and I removed my head from my hands to look at who wanted to intrude on my misery. A person with wings behind their elven ears, with long white hair sat beside me. It took me a few seconds to deduce this person was a man, as he was so pretty he looked almost like a girl. "What's troubling you, young man?" He asked in a smooth voice.

"Ah... Well, it's kind of embarrassing. I want to enter the Battle Tournament, but I don't have enough money for it..." I replied shyly. I was unsure how to gauge this situation, since my mom always cautioned me about random strangers coming up to you asking about things. The man smirked, and pulled out a pouch from his robes. He tossed it into my lap, and got up to walk away. My eyes grew large as I opened the pouch that revealed my much needed one hundred crystal coins. "T-Thank you, sir! But why? What is your name!?" I asked, raising my voice to make sure he heard me.

He turned, that same smirk on his face. "Let's just say that you look like someone I know. Two, actually." With that he disappeared into the crowd.


	7. Chapter 6

The power behind my thrust made my arm actually enter the hole I left in the undead werewolf's chest (I didn't even know a zombie werewolf was even possible!). I pulled my arm out of the hole, and the body fell with a loud thump. I grimaced at the green ooze that was up to my bicep. "So gross." I mumbled to myself, shaking the ooze off me. This discomfort left me quite distracted- So distracted in fact, that I did not notice the Skeleton Werewolf mini-boss stalking up behind me. The Skeleton Werewolf grabbed me from behind by the neck, choking my airway. The giant lifted me off the ground and knocked my sword out of my hand in one single motion, just leaving me hanging twenty feet in the air by the neck. I struggled for even a small breath, clawing at his bony hand with my nails. Just when I thought I'd be sent to the rebirth point for sure, a voice rang out.

"Holy Blessing!" It cried, a gold light surrounding the Skeleton Werewolf. The monster howled, and threw me to the ground. I didn't like the taste of the dirt the first time I tried it when I first had logged into the game, and I sure as hell didn't like it the second time. My arms shook violently as I lifted myself up, seeing a small puddle of blood where my mouth and neck were. I touched my neck and winced.  _I didn't know I lost that much health!_

"Curatio!" The voice shouted once more, now recognizing it to be male. White light surrounded me, and I felt the sliced skin around my throat reconnect and mend together, as if nothing had ever happened. The small scratches that stung my cheeks, chin and mouth that I had felt also seemed to have disappeared as well.  _Gotta love a priest._

The boss was furious that it had lost its prey, and started to lumber towards the priest at an alarming speed. Its speed was no match for mine, though. I grabbed my sword and raced after it, jumping on its back when I was close enough. I clung to its spine as it whipped around back and forth, trying to shake me off and make a grab for me. I gritted my teeth and made my ascent up its back till I reached its shoulders. I took my sword and plunged it right between two of its vertebrae. The top portion, which contained a little of the neck and its skull, fell off smoothly to the ground. The body fell apart and crumbled right after it; leaving me in a sprawled mess in the pile of loot and bones. I removed a part of a pinky finger from underneath of me, "Ugh, that wasn't painless at all." My sarcasm rolling off my tongue.

"That... Was really cool..." The priest whispered with awe. I quirked an eyebrow, a little bewildered at what was apparently 'cool'. The priest, who looked a boy no older than twelve, blushed a little as he saw my confused look. "I-I mean, how you took down that boss! Most warriors hack and whack until it dies, making things drag on for a long time. But you took it down with one move, and how you did it was just... So cool..."

I stood up, and smiled at him. "It's not as cool as you think, kid. I don't have that much strength or stamina, I just knew the right place to stick my blade."

His whole face went red, looking furious he exclaimed, "I am not a little kid! I'm almost eighteen for the love of God!" I stared, my mouth slightly ajar.  _This guy is actually older than me!? He looks like he should still be in primary school!_  The priest blinked a few times, and started to hurriedly apologize. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me, I didn't mean to yell! It's just so many people keep thinking I'm like ten or eleven and it's really frustrating and-"

I couldn't help it, I started laughing uncontrollably. So hard in fact I fell back down, clutching at my sides.  _Are you serious? Are you serious!? "_ O-Oh my-haha! Really?  _Really?"_

The priest frowned, "Stop laughing! Do you know how hard it is to find a girlfriend looking like this!? I can't hit on a girl without her thinking it's cute that a 'kid' has a crush on her, or that they're weirded out by my baby face!"

I calmed myself enough to speak clearly, "I-I'm sorry! It's just... So weird. And coming from me, that's saying a lot because my whole family is weird!" I finally stopped laughing, and cleared my throat. I stood up once more, and held out my hand. "I'm Yi Min, what about you?"

The priest seemed to relax a bit, and took my hand. "Zhi Sano*."

"Chinese and Latin, huh? That's an interesting combination." I pointed out as we started to walk towards Infinite City. Zhi turned to me in great surprise.

"You know Latin!?" He gasped, quite astonished at my knowledge. I couldn't help but smile at his expression.

"A little bit. My father is a well known professor of literature, so I kind of got spoon fed all sorts of things. It is really rare for people to recognize Latin, anymore." Zhi nodded vigorously, his dark brown hair getting messier and messier.

"Wow, that's so cool! The reason why I know it is because I want to be a medieval historian! A lot of documents are in Latin, so I better know it well if I am going to be the best there can be!" Zhi said excitedly, fiery determination in his eyes.

Seeing the look in his eyes also fired me up. "Yeah! I want to be an amazing computer programmer, and I am going to do all that I can to learn to make it better and faster! I replied, feeling a crazed smile tugging on my lips at the thought of being hailed as the top programmer in the world. As we continued down the path, Infinite City's walls in sight, we excitedly talked about this and that- A marker of a new friendship.

* * *

We decided to get a bite to eat, and sat down at a table. As we were looking through our menus, the waitress came up to take our order. I ordered two servings of Sanbeiji, three things of Cong you Bing and some Baobing for dessert.* Zhi looked curiously at me, probably wondering if I could possibly eat everything.  _My dear friend, my mother still eats me under the table!_  Zhi then made his order, obviously flirting with the waitress the entire time. She seemed greatly amused by his efforts, as if a toddler was announcing he wanted to marry his mother. I couldn't help but chuckle, which seemed to have flustered the waitress for some reason.  _Did I embarrass her?_ When she left our table, Zhi stuck his bottom lip out. "No fair, Yi Min! She won't even bat an eyelash at me, but you make one noise and she's falling all over you!"

I was bewildered by his comment, "What are you talking about, Zhi? I just seemed to have embarrassed her somehow, that's all." I stated matter-of-factly. There was a loud thump from the table closest to us, that had two cloaked figures that were sitting quietly. One of them was now rubbing their wrist, muttering under their breath. The waitress came back with our food and rocketed towards the table with the cloaked figures as soon as she set everything down. I started working on my chicken, "You know, if you're so ba'thered by yur looks why didn't you chanse them?" I said with my mouth full of delicious meat. Another thump was heard from the cloaked table, with the same cloaked figure rubbing their hand now.  _What a clumsy person!_

"That's what happened, though. I did change them." Zhi said as he finished swallowing one of his mouthfuls, "I'm actually much more mature looking in real life, and I asked the person helping me if I could a little more boyish right before entering the game for the first time. They didn't even let me see if I liked it or not after they changed it, throwing me right into the game! When I went to look in a reflection, I found myself looking like this!" He pinched his chubby cheek.

I let a snort of laughter come out, which made my food go down the wrong way. I coughed a bit from it, but started chuckling again. "Oh man, that's rough. But it's okay, it's just in game." Zhi nodded, still chewing his food. I figured that my new found friend should know about my plans. "Zhi, I should tell you the reason why I joined  _Life 2.0_.

"Hm?" He replied while slurping on his noodles.

"I joined because there's some big secret my family is hiding from me, and it involves that Prince guy." I whispered to him, not wanting to be overheard.

Zhi dropped his noodles in his bowl, "What!? Pr-" I covered his mouth with my hand, disgruntled that he had decided to yell so loudly that the whole cafe was looking at us. " _Prince?_ As in the City's Overlord? The most famous individual in the world who's secret identity has yet to be found in over thirty years? As in that super bishie elf, Prince?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes, yes. The very same. I don't know what connection the guy has to my family, but my family looked like they had all seen a ghost when I asked them about it. And if there's anything I hate, it's when information like  _that_ iskept from me." I glanced over at the other tables, reassuring myself that no one was paying attention. The only table that worried me were the two with the cloaks, since they were so close and had not left yet.

"So, how are you going to find out about it through this game? You can't just waltz right into the castle and talk to Prince. That castle is so heavily guarded that the God of Monsters couldn't get to Prince." Zhi said, referring to the ultimate boss of  _Life 2.0_.

"I'm participating in the Battle Tournament, where the winner gets to have a match with Prince himself. I don't care about beating him in combat or whatever; he's way more experienced than me, anyway. I'm interested in getting his attention, and being able to get an audience with him. Then I can find out what his connection is with my family." Zhi seemed to have agreed that it was a good idea, as he had a smile on his face while he nodded vigorously once more.

_**System Notice: Attention, there has been an outside disturbance.** _

Bewildered, I looked at the time through the pop-up screen and it said that it was 7 A.M in real life. I noticed what day it was and grimaced, "I'm sorry, Zhi. I'm going to have to go. My ridiculous father is trying to wake me up." I sighed. I looked to left to see the cloaked figures were gone now.  _At least I don't have to worry about leaving Zhi alone with a bunch of suspicious characters,_  now.

"It's alright, I gotta wake up in a couple of hours for my first university class, anyway. I'll catch you later, Yi Min!" He waved, and I waved goodbye in return as I logged off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zhi Sano: Zhi means "Wisdom" in Chinese, and Sano means "In Healing" in Latin. So his name literally means "Wisdom in Healing"
> 
> Sanbeiji: Meaning "Three-Cup-Chicken" it's a popular Chinese dish in Taiwan.
> 
> Cong you Bing: A popular Chinese/Taiwanese flatbeard snack.
> 
> Baobing: A Chinese shaved ice dessert that typically has a ton of fruit toppings and topped with condensed milk. (And I would really like to try some.)


	8. A Prince of a Mother

"We need more funds, everyone!" Yu-Lian exclaimed, throwing down her finance book. "Even though they granted Prince his domain across the continent because the back up was before he conquered the other cities, they didn't grant us any funds for the upkeep! That and with the last performance being over thirty years ago, the Infinite band is nothing like it used to be!"

"Hey! I can still sing!" I complained, puffing my cheeks out. Gui and Doll started poking at my cheeks out of amusement, which annoyed me further.

"Maybe, but Wicked hasn't played his flute since then; Fairsky hasn't even logged on yet because she's still in the Amazon with Sunshine, and Ice Phoenix is too busy trying to establish an intelligence agency to work with the military! While your voice is beautiful, people want a melody too!" Yu-Lian explained, huffing and puffing in exasperation. Wolf-gege hugged his wife, which seemed to calm her down immensely.

"What if we have a festival?" My daughter piped in, who was a human thief. Even though she looked like me in real life, since she was a girl no one would correlate that any of us were related outside of my brother being her uncle. Wicked, aka Zhou-gege, nodded in agreement with his wife.

"That's a good idea. We can make it week long, having multiple events. It would cost near to nothing on our part as people would pay us for the events and space for booths. Lan Lan could work as our publicity director since her job is related to the media, Prince can make the announcement and we can work out the rest from there." Wicked added. Yu-Lian's face seemed to have brightened, with others at the table murmuring in agreement.

"That's my daughter!" Gui exclaimed, tackling her into a hug. Wicked, annoyed, forcefully removed Gui from his wife. "Hey! Get off me! Don't you keep me away from my daughter, Wicked! You hear me!?" Gui started kicking and slapping at Wicked, who had him in a tight grip around his waist.

"Stop kicking me, you brat!" Wicked yelled, anger clearly raising in his voice. I sighed, taking Gui away from Wicked with one arm and dragged him back with me.

"Deeaaarrrrr, he's trying to keep our daughter away from us!" Gui whined, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. He then latched onto me, and turned around to stick his tongue out at Wicked. Thankfully Xiao Xiao Lan was dragging her husband away as well, who was too busy glaring daggers at Gui to fight back.

* * *

We decided to wait the next day for the announcement about the festival, to give a little more time for people to get on the game. It had been so long since I was Prince that I felt nervous about speaking in front of the masses again, not to mention showing my leadership and swordsmanship. I waited at the entrance as Nan Gong Zui walked out to the balcony to introduce me to the crowd. The trembling from my nerves ceased when I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap themselves around my chest.

"You'll be fine, dear. It's just like riding a bicycle." Gui whispered reassuringly in my ear.

"But I never learned how to ride one!" I exclaimed, feeling more uncertain as to what I was about to do. Gui couldn't help but laugh heartily at my distress.

"No my dearest wife, what I meant is that you never forget. It might take a little while, but you'll fit right back in to your old routine." Gui chuckled. I turned around to return his hold on me, grateful for his support. Nan Gong Zui walked back in, and nodded towards me. I broke away from Gui, and walked towards the entryway. I looked back at Gui, as well as the others who had seemed to come to send me off. They all smiled at me, and Gui gave me a thumbs up. I nodded, and walked out onto the balcony.

As I reached the railing, the previously thundering crowd silenced. I ran my eyes over the crowd, seeing how many people were gathered here.  _Well it's not as bad as I thought, in fact there are less people than the last time I spoke!_  My gaze halted at a complete stop. In the further right of the crowd stood a young elf with messy, jet black hair and dark purple eyes, his eyes wide as he stared back at me.  _Feng Wen..._

No matter how much I wanted to jump down from the balcony and tackle my son into a hug, I was Prince right now, not Min Xiao Lan. At this moment I was the Blood Elf, not Feng Wen's mother. I didn't want to ruin his adventure so soon, so for now I have to keep cold and distant.  _Even if it hurts..._

"Infinite City!" I yelled out to the crowd, raising my hands up in the air for dramatic effect. The crowd went wild, chanting my name over and over. All the nerves and fear from coming back disappeared as I basked in the adoration of the crowd. I brought my hands down, and with it the crowd settled.

"It has been far too long since I have walked this balcony, and gazed upon this beautiful city and continent that we call home! But neither this place nor I weaken with time, and will be evident as we go forward. To celebrate the return of Infinite City, we will be holding a week long festival. There will be several events including a battle tournament for warriors, the victor being able to battle me one on one." I recited to the crowd, giving them my killer smile. The crowd got noisy again, from cheers to having conversations with one another. I waved my goodbye to the crowd, and walked back towards the castle gracefully.

When I got inside, I immediately fell down to the ground. Everyone hurried towards me and surrounded me. "Prince-gege, what happened!? Do you need something to eat?" Doll asked innocently.

"No... Feng Wen was in the crowd... I saw him..." I said, mentally exhausted. Gui's eyes grew twice the size as they were, and he ran out to the balcony.

"Someone grab him!" Lolidragon cried, but Wicked was way ahead of her. He was on Gui's heels, and soon he came back dragging my husband behind him.

"I saw him! I saw him! He looks like Prince with my features!" Gui exclaimed, as if this was something new.  _He was already like that before he played the game!_

* * *

The Battle Tournament was going to larger than we thought, with over five-thousand warriors entering it. The most exhausting part was I had to go over every single entry to give it my seal of approval.  _Why couldn't I just get a secretary or something to do this for me?_  Four days after the announcement, I found one entry that made me stop. Each entry had a picture of the applicant, their race, level and stats. While quite a few of the applicants were obvious copycats of me, the face that greeted me on this one was the same I saw in the crowd days earlier.

"So it seems Feng Wen is entering the tournament." Wolf-gege said, peering over my shoulder to look at the entry. At the mention of our son's name, Gui bounded over to me on my throne and snatched it out of my hand.

"Doesn't he look adorable, Prince!?" Gui said, and started gushing on and on about how wonderful our son is.

"You act as if the lovechild between Gui and Prince could have been hideous." Lolidragon retorted, shaking her head. She waltzed over and took the entry card out of Gui's hand, much to his complaint. She was running over it, when her eyes stopped and grew wide. "Prince, you realize Feng Wen is only level fifty, right?"

"Yes?" I replied, puzzled.

"And that he only started the game four nights ago?"

"Yes... It's possible to be that high a level in that amount of time." I was unsure as to where she was going with this.

"Where in the world did he get one hundred crystal coins, then!?" Lolidragon cried, shoving the card back in my hands. I looked at the entry with great concentration, as if it may have had a hidden answer. I knew just as much as anyone that getting one hundred crystal coins in that amount of time, at that level was pretty much unfathomable.  _But Feng Wen is a good boy, he would never steal!_

"Maybe someone gave it to him?" I couldn't help but guess, since it seemed like the only plausible answer. Lolidragon nodded, but her face was tense.

"That's probably it, but who would be willing to shell out that much money on a kid wanting to get in a tournament?" Her words hung in the air, as no one was sure how to answer.

* * *

The Battle Tournament was starting tomorrow, and the whole city was buzzing with excitement. It was impossible for any of the Odd Squad to leave the castle without getting attacked by fans or the media. I couldn't handle being cooped up any longer, I hadn't even gotten to leave the castle the entirety of my time on  _Life 2.0_. For the sake of my reputation and sanity, Yu-Lian permitted me to leave the castle in disguise as long as I took someone along with me. Of course, I chose Gui as my companion for the outing. And since we would be disguised, we could act like a normal couple instead of the Blood Elf Overlord and the Architect of Infinite City.

We warned the management of Infinite Restaurant ahead of time that we would be arriving but to keep quiet about it, since undoubtedly they would recognize us by the sound of our voice. Once that was done, we left the castle through a secret entrance that lead to some alleyways and then blended into the crowd. I started to relax, feeling my muscles become less tensed. I wrapped my fingers around Gui's. "Sure is nice to be out and about without any worry of reputation or girls chasing us down." I said in a hushed voice.

He turned to his head towards me, the hood of the cloaks we wore only exposed the lower half of our faces, where I saw a smile. "Yeah, it sure is. Just like it was way back in the beginning, you know?"

I chuckled softly, "Well, maybe about reputation. As soon as I created Prince I had women chasing me to the four corners of the Earth!" Gui nodded in agreement, now with an amused smirk. We continued to hold hands in the bustling streets, the peaceful silence between us. We had plenty time to talk, but for now we just wanted to enjoy seeing our beloved city again.

It wasn't long when we arrived at Infinite Restaurant. The waitress greeted us, obviously nervous to serve the two most famous bishies in modern history, not to mention one of them was her city's Overlord. We sat down, and she took our order, including two hot teas.

As we sipped on our teas, we heard the door open and two sets of footsteps walk towards our direction. Neither Gui or I dared to look up, as no matter who it was we did not want to be recognized. As soon as the waitress was finished giving us our food and went to take their order, I thanked the heavens we didn't. A calm voice replied to her, "Ah, yes. I would like two orders of Sanbeiji, three things of Cong you Bing and some Baobing after that."

Looking over towards my husband, he looked like he was completely torn as to what to do. Knowing him, he wanted to grab up Feng Wen in the biggest bear hug possible, and force him to sit at our table. But he also doesn't want to ruin Feng Wen's quest yet. I tried to then strain my eyes to go as far left as possible, to double check that it was indeed my son. Even though it hurt my eyes and my sight was slightly blurry, I caught sight of the side of Feng Wen, in some sort of black armor. Across from him at the table was a young boy with short dark brown hair, which the waitress was now taking his order. With a suggestive smile he answered, "I don't know, ma'am. I don't think anything could fill me up better than your gorgeous face. But if I can't have that, I guess I'll take a bowl of ramen*."  _That was so bad_  was the only thought that crossed my mind. Gui, who was a bard and romantic, had his hand covering his face as his reaction.

The waitress looked incredibly amused by the comment, but definitely not seduced. As she jotted down his order Feng Wen chuckled, probably from his companion's terrible pick-up line. The waitress looked at Feng Wen, completely flustered.  _If I was her, I'd probably get like that too with his looks and voice!_

"No fair, Yi Min! She won't even bat an eyelash at me, but you make one noise and she's falling all over you!" The boy exclaimed as soon as the waitress went in the backroom.

"What are you talking about, Zhi? I just seemed to have embarrassed her somehow, that's all." Feng Wen replied, completely oblivious.  _What!? He can't even tell with something that obvious!?_ My inner thoughts yelled, my sudden irritation causing me to jerk my hand, hitting my wrist on the edge of the table, making a loud noise. All present in the dining room, including Feng Wen and his friend, looked over at our table. I played it off easily, rubbing my wrist and muttering swear words at the pain I felt in my wrist. The waitress soon returned with their food, and made a beeline for our table to check on us. After reassuring her nothing was wrong, I heard my son unintelligibly say, "You know, if you're so ba'thered by yur looks why didn't you chanse them?"

I slammed my fist in the table in rage,  _Does he think that just because he thinks his mother is not here that he can talk with his mouth full? Has he learned nothing from me? Doing such a thing is disgusting to look at and disrespectful to the food that is being eaten!_  Realizing my second mistake, I quickly played off that I just hit the table again, this time with my hand.

No matter how much I wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation that followed, I didn't out of respect. I couldn't however miss the sudden outburst from his friend, "What?! Pr-" before Feng Wen clamped his mouth shut with his hand, frowning. I switched my attention to the window, which was showing the sun starting it's descent.

"Gui my dear, don't we need to get up early this morning because it's the first day of the Fall semester at XX University?" I whispered to my husband.

Gui, who's back was towards the window, turned around to look at it. Seeing the position of the sun, he checked the main menu for the time. When he saw it was 6:30 A.M, he nodded. "Yes, we should get changed and then wake up our son!" With that we logged off, leaving Feng Wen and his friend alone in the restaurant.

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ramen: I'm sure most of you know, but just in case I'll put this here. Ramen is a noodle dish that is actually of Chinese origin, but was popularized and perfected in Japan. It became so popular in fact, that it is available virtually everywhere now.


	9. Chapter 7

"Feng Wen, get up! It's the first day of classes!" I heard my father's voice say right in my ear. I moved the headset that obscured my view, to see my dad only inches away from my face with a gentle smile. For him to be this awake and jolly this early in the morning, he must be excited for me to be in his class. Even though I was initially annoyed, I couldn't help but smile at my Dad's good mood.

"Alright, alright! I'm up, I'm up! You need to get out of my face, dad!" I said playfully, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him away from my face. My dad used one of his signature pouts that he usually reserved for Mom when he wanted attention from her, and I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh. "Dad, I can't get up and get dressed if you're blocking the way!"

"Gui, are you harassing our son again? Do you want me to come in there when I have a fork in my hand!?" My mom called out sternly.

My dad yelped and ran out of my room, "No, my dearest wife! I was just waking him up, that's it I swear!" Knowing that Dad wouldn't be busting through my door again, I changed into a gray hoodie and jeans, then headed to the kitchen. As usual, Kenshin was in his pink apron cleaning the house, this time sweeping the floor. I patted him on the shoulder as I passed him, and continued to head towards my mom who was placing the dishes on the table. When I got to her, I told her good morning and gave her a kiss on the cheek, as what she typically demands of me when I get up in the morning for school. Unsurprisingly, my aunt and uncle were not present at the table this early in the morning.

"I'm guessing Shui-yima and Yang-shushu are not going to be joining us this early?" I asked my mom as I sat in front of my plate.

"They're still sleeping, so I saved some for them to eat when they wake up." Mom replied, unusually at ease. Typically Mom would be annoyed if they missed a meal when it was first served, especially if it was because they were out late at a bar or partying. Instead she was quite relaxed, as if this was completely acceptable. I only nodded back, because I didn't want to get my uncle and aunt in any more trouble than they usually are with my mom.

* * *

"You know Dad... My first class isn't till 10 A.M. What am I going to do for two hours!?" I said, feeling exasperated. I could tolerate being woken up at some obscene hour, but actually getting to school  _ **two**_ hours before my first class?  _This is absolutely insane! I hope he doesn't expect me to ride with him every day! Anyway, his class I signed up for isn't till the afternoon!_

My dad looked embarrassed, looking away in the other direction. "Actually... I don't teach my first class till 10 A.M also. I just thought I could show you around campus until you got familiar with it, and spend a little time together too..." As he finished, the car slowed to a stop and parked itself in his parking spot. Dad then forced himself to look at me, even as flustered as he was.

_He is so goofy, I swear._ I chuckled, showing him a smile. "Well then, let's not lose anymore time than we have!" I said, jumping out of the car. Dad got out of the car as well, and locked it behind him. With a smile on his face, he gestured towards the campus, and I followed him towards the large campus of XX University.

* * *

_I will never doubt Dad's intelligence, again._ I thought to myself, my head swarming with too much information. It only took a hour to cover of all the buildings, but it took me another hour to get down where my classes were without getting helplessly lost.  _Dad must have known I'd get lost... Is my sense of direction that bad?_

Today was Monday, which meant the classes I had were Computer Programming and my dad's History of Literature class. I stood in front of the door to my Computer Programming class, trying to quell the butterflies in my stomach.  _It's not the work I'm nervous about, it's the people! I came from a tiny private school_   _with three or four others that would be in all my classes, not a room filled with twenty-nine other individuals that are probably older than me!_  I swallowed the lump in my throat, and put the hood of my gray hoodie over my head to avoid being noticed- which seemed to be a curse of mine.

With my head hanging low, I entered the class room and looked around. It seemed normal enough, with thirty student desks lined in neat little rows. I took a desk in the second to last row, as I didn't want to be seen as a delinquent by sitting in the very last row. Quite fittingly, there was an obnoxiously loud man that had three or four women surrounding him, all chattering excitedly with dreamy looks in their eyes. He looked like one of those 'bad boys' that women always went for, which would probably explain the little crowd around him.

The professor gave loud cough and rapped his knuckles against the table. His face showed great kindness, but the rest of him had a bit of a wild look to him. He had shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders, his arms covered in tattoos and wore red polo with black slacks.  _He's like the complete opposite of Dad, who has a clean look and wears a tie!_ What was probably the most amusing was it seemed no one realized he was actually the professor because of his look.  _I thought it was kind of obvious, since he's the only one that came in with briefcase._

The professor placed his hands in front and together as he spoke,"I am Professor Wing Tai Yang, and I have been teaching computer sciences here for over ten years. I hope we can all become friends, so let's all introduce ourselves! Everyone go around and tell us your name, age and what you are majoring in."

The person in the further right corner stood up and introduced themselves, then the person to the left of them stood up. As this happened, I remembered something.  _I also have my computer science and physics class with him! I hope he's good teacher, otherwise this will be a terrible university experience!_

"Young man, will you please introduce yourself?" Professor Wing said. Startled, I looked around and saw no one standing up. I looked at Professor Wing who was looking directly at me. Confused, I pointed to myself. With an amused smile, Professor Wing nodded. Embarrassed, I stood up. "And take your hood off! After all, you're going to be with everyone the entire semester, they'll see your face at some point." He said, gesturing with his hand to lift the hood back.

Now I felt my face get hot, and I lifted the hood back. Everyone just stared at me, with all sorts of weird expressions on their faces. Self-conscious, I ran my fingers through my messy hair. "Uh... I'm Min Feng Wen. I'm sixteen, and I plan on majoring in computer programming..." I said quietly, and sat back down immediately. I've grown used to people staring at me because of  _Life 2.0,_  but for some reason being in a confined classroom with a group of individuals I will have to associate with makes it very awkward and nerve wrecking. The girl who was suppose to introduce herself next, seemed so distracted by my introduction that Professor Wing had to call her out too.  _How am I going to survive these classes!?_

When everyone was done introducing themselves, we then started covering the syllabus and course calender. As we looked over them, I noticed that the material for the first exam was over the history of programming. I then searched through the calender to see what chapters were covered for that exam. Two weeks from now, we would discuss Chapter Three:  _Second Life and the World of Programming._  With a wild grin on my face, I couldn't help but mumble to myself, "I know what I'm going to be reading tonight."


	10. Chapter 8

When my class finished, I slid my hood back on and exited the room to head towards my dad's class. As I rounded the corner that was the hall the class was in, I felt a rumble from within my stomach that matched the sound that came from it. I looked down to stare at it, feeling a frown growing on my face.  _Of all days I forget to bring lunch..._  Resigning myself to having to spend money, I went to the nearest vending machine to get a snack to hold me over. I pulled out my wallet only to find ten cents. Panicking, I checked my backpack, my pockets and even the area around the vending machine only to find four more cents. Feeling defeated, I walked back to where my dad's classroom was and sat up against the wall next to the door.

My class had gotten out very early since it was the first day of class, and my dad was not done instructing his class. So I was stuck being miserable and alone with my growling stomach till my dad was done, so maybe I could beg for some money to buy lunch with. To make matters worse, some guy with dark hair decided sit down beside me against the wall. Then to add insult to injury, he pulled out his unhealthy, but delicious looking lunch of prawn crackers and spring rolls to eat in front of me. If he wasn't older, looking about twenty-five or so; and looked so intimidating I probably would have yelled at him or begged for some (I tend to lose most of my dignity when I'm hungry).

Even though he was scary looking, I couldn't help but stare and watch him eat his food. I think I even drooled a little bit, but that was all forgotten when my stomach made a growl so loud probably half the campus heard it. I know the guy did, because he looked right at me with a bewildered look. He stared right at me, and with a serious expression he said, "Forgot to bring lunch?"

Tentatively, I nodded.

"Not enough money?" Once again I nodded, unsure if he was going to make fun of me or not. He dug into his lunch bag to pull out two prawn crackers and spring rolls, holding them out to me. "It's not much, but it should hold you over for a while. Next time remember to bring something for lunch!" I nodded vigorously, and grabbed the items out of his hand to stuff them in my mouth. I don't know if it was because I was hungry, but they were probably one of the best tasting of their kind I have ever had as well.

When I finished my last one, I decided it would be good to thank him properly. "Thank you so much for your kindness, I promise that I will repay you! Let me introduce myself, my name is Feng Wen."

My stomach's savior nodded, "Hong Peng. It's nice to meet you." We sat in silence for a few minutes, before the door opened with a flood of students coming out. Strangely, the majority seemed to be women who were giggling, blushing and talking among each other. A few even looked back towards the door, even though there was no one coming through it anymore. Ignoring them, I stood up and offered a hand to Hong Peng who had finished the rest of his lunch. He brushed off the crumbs on his hands and took my hand, which I pulled him up with. "You in Professor Min's class?" He asked.

"Yup! My first elective class, even though I was kind of forced to take it." I replied, scratching the back of my head.

"He teaches all the literature classes that are required for my major in History. I have heard so much about him, I hope he is as good of a professor as everyone says." Hong Peng replied, a sudden lift in his demeanor.  _Is that a touch of admiration I hear in his voice? Didn't know my dad was such a popular fellow!_

_"_ Oh, I assure you he is." I smiled. Hong Peng seemed bewildered by my reaction, and understandably so. _After all, didn't I imply that this was my first class with Dad? Or should I say Professor Min?_ I walked in the door followed by Hong Peng. I saw my dad calmly reorganizing his papers before he looked up at us. For a split second I saw his goofy grin on his face before he plastered on his mask of a calm and controlled university professor.

"Good afternoon! Take a seat where ever you like, though they say that those who sit up front tend to get better grades!" He greeted us, though that last bit was obviously directed towards me. No matter how much I love my dad, I have never been one to sit up front, and being in such large classroom this was definitely not an exception. So I felt I made a good compromise by sitting in the second row, even though I saw a small frown on dad's face as I set my backpack on the desk. Surprisingly, Hong Peng sat to the right of me. A couple of more guys came in before a gaggle of girls came cramming through the door, all giving weird (And frankly disturbing) looks at my dad. My dad gave them a gentle smile, a smile that I knew right of the bat was fake as can be.  _If he was truly smiling, his eyelids would crinkle and his eyes would also be gentle!_

The girls filled up the remaining desks in the classroom, which made me feel quite outnumbered. They were loud too, tons of conversations going on at the same time made it hard to even hear my own thoughts.

"My God, my sister is right! He's absolutely  _gorgeous_!" The redheaded girl who sat next to me squealed to her friends.

"Yes! A thousand times yes! Even if he's old enough to be my grandfather, that face is to die for!" One of her friends replied, shaking her head so wildly her pigtails were hitting her in the face.

"Yeah... Too bad he's married, though." The redhead pouted.

"What!? He's married? But what about Prince? I thought he..." The pigtail girl asked, turning her gaze to my father.  _Prince? Wha? Are they talking about my dad? But what does he have to do with Prince? Actually now that I remember, he's the one who mentioned Prince first when I told them about the headset..._ I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Dad. He seemed shocked at my expression. _Are you hiding more than I thought you_  were?

"I don't know, guys." Another girl piped in, this one with long, black hair in a braid. "You didn't see who I saw with Professor Min this morning."

"What!? What did you see!?" The two other girls called out nearly at the same time.

The girl with the braid smiled slyly. "I came here quite early, around 9 A.M. I saw Professor Min walking around with an incredibly handsome guy! And he was quite close to him too! And if that wasn't enough, this guy looked just like..." she gestured for them to get closer, and whispered something. I tried to strain my hearing as far as I could, but with the other conversations going on it was impossible. All I know is that the reaction to it was explosive, with all the girls squealing and giggling louder than ever before.  _Who!? Who was this guy!?_ I thought to myself, wanting to know. Then it dawned on me, and I slapped myself in the face.  _Idiot, they're talking about you! You were with dad till 9:30 A.M! But who are they saying I look like? And why would Dad being close to a guy mean anything? Unless... That Prince guy..._

"Settle down, settle down!" My father's voice boomed across the classroom. He had taken off his blazer and was in a short sleeve button up and tie, making him appear less stodgy. "Good afternoon, students! I am your literature professor, Min Gui Wen! I hope we can all be friends and take care of each other this semester!"He greeted, giving us a heartwarming smile. Girls giggled and sighed with greetings of all sorts, while the guys gave a simple good afternoon. My dad started to discuss the syllabus and calender, but I was too distracted with my thoughts about the conversation those girls had.  _I'm going to ask him about it after class._

* * *

"Dad." I said after we had left the classroom, heading towards the car later that afternoon.

My dad turned to look at me as we walked out of the building. "Yes Feng Wen?"

I looked around, worried that someone might be watching or listening to us. "I heard somewhere in school that you know that Prince fellow. You know,  _that_ Prince."

It took me a second to realize that dad had stopped walking, and I turned around to face him. With the expression on his face, the answer was an obvious  _yes_. "Ah... Yes, a matter of fact I do."

I narrowed my eyes, "I heard you knew him quite well. That you were... _close_." Remembering the implications of those girls made.

My dad looked like he was trapped in a corner, trying to find a way out of answering. Then his expression hardened, "Believe the rumors if you want, but I promised your mother I would not discuss this particular subject. And it stays that way." My dad unlocked the car and hurriedly got inside, waiting for me to get in as well. Silently, I got in the car and we were on our way home.  _Damn him and his IQ of 200! Somehow he weaseled his way out of directly saying it, though..._ I smiled evilly,  _What he said might be an answer, after all._


	11. Chapter 8

I glared at the large Prince poster that was plastered against the outside wall of the arena. The hands that hung idly by my hips tightened into fists, and my glare narrowing even more than it was. I felt Zhi creep by my side, but I remained locked in on the face of that...  _I don't know what to call him! With the way things are looking, he played around with all sorts of people! No wonder no one wants to talk about him in my family... and my poor mother! When I asked her when we got home, she looked like she was nearly about to have a heart attack!_

"Hey uh, Yi? People keep looking over here with weird expressions... Why are you so concentrated, anyway? It's just a poster..." Zhi said, looking curiously at the poster.

I whipped my head around violently, feeling the anger bubble up as I remembered the events of the day. "Because I found out today that bastard did something that caused a lot of problems between my parents!" I hissed, feeling a lump form in my throat from all my emotions. I swallowed, and gave a vague summary of what I learned.

Zhi rubbed his chin, as if in deep thought. "He was close to Prince... You do realize what that means, right Yi?"

"What, what does it mean?" I asked, confused.

"Your father was someone important! To be close to Prince is to reside in the castle, or at least be in the castle on a regular basis. I wonder who he wa-" Zhi looked like he just had a moment of clarity.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Yi Min, do you know if your dad is playing  _Life 2.0?_ " Zhi replied, "Because if he is... Then more than likely he's also in the castle right as we speak!"

My head was swarming with all these theories. "Hold up! Even if my dad was, it seems like something happened between them."  _My dad, one of the most important players in Second Life? But... He's my dad. He attacks the family with parasitic hugs; wears a suit and tie to a university with a casual dress code; and follows mom nearly everywhere...! He's just... such an odd fellow._  I brought my attention to the poster again, and nodded to myself.  _You're getting carried away Feng Wen, coming to irrational conclusions. They say that the truth is always between two extremes, and this is no exception! The only way to find out what really happened between my parents and Prince is to have Prince tell me himself._

"Yi Min...?" Zhi waved his hand in front of my face, breaking me away from my thoughts.

"Ah, sorry. Just thinking over everything. I think we should keep our speculations just as what they are: speculations. If we start believing they're the truth, we'll just get farther away from the actual truth. And the only way to find that out is from Prince, even if I have to take his entire kingdom away to get him to tell me..." I glanced at over at the poster.  _I won't settle with just getting my answers from Prince. I swear if he did anything bad to my family, especially my parents, I will have him on his knees begging for his life by his precious black dao!_

**"Attention! Will all contestants please go to their assigned gates!"** Boomed from arena, the crowd mulling towards the large arch that was the main entry to the arena. Zhou clapped me on the back and pushed me forward towards the entryway, "Go on! I'll be in there watching you!" He shouted at me as he waved. I grinned and smiled back, then went to my gate that was unfortunately Gate 44*. There I sat on a bench to wait my match with a handful others. The gate system of the arena was made to act like a bracket system, where one gate was randomly matched with another gate, and from there a contestant of those gates were randomly matched together for a battle. I originally heard there was an absurd amount of applicants for the tournament, however they somehow reduced down to a neat thousand participates which meant it would take winning ten matches to be the champion. But even that was a lot, so they had other matches being held in the other Central Continent cities to make the tournament go as fast and smooth as possible. Lucky, I was placed in the Infinite City arena where Prince would preside over all the battles.

I sat on a wooden bench to wait for my match, running strategies and scenarios through my head. However my attention started to wane, and when two hours had passed I had turned to reflect on what I had learned so far on my quest for truth.  _It just doesn't add up, none of it. All the information I have gathered in the past week and a half just don't make any sort of coherent sense. The only thing I know for certain is the importance of Prince in all of this, everything I have learned has Prince at the center of it. Even in the light of new revelations I have found, he's still there in the spotlight. To find out he actually knows Dad..._ An image of my dad's expression when I asked him if he was close to Prince was brought to my mind.  _If not more. And Mom obviously knows of him, if not personally. What's Prince's relationship with my parents? Why do they react the way they do to the mention of him?_ I rubbed my forehead, exasperated. "This is really taking a toll on me..." I mumbled under my breath.

**"Contestants Yi Min and Undying Retribution, please enter the stadium!"**  Jolted me out of my deliberation. When I registered that my name was called, I felt all my nerves attack me at one time. First in my stomach, then my back, and finally my legs turning to jelly. Thoughts of uncertainty started to race through my mind as I forced myself to walk down the hallway of the gate.  _What am I doing? I've only killed monsters, how can I kill another person!? Oh, I'm so going to the rebirth point!_

But when I heard the first cries of a roaring crowd, I felt this wave of calm over me.  _This really isn't that different from when I'm in town square, where I would get all sorts of stares._ I pulled out my sword and walked out with my head high, putting on a cold and collected mask as I always did. When I was finally outside in the large arena, the crowd seemed to quiet down to a loud drone as I walked across the stage to face my opponent, Undying Retribution. He looked a bull of a man in size, carrying a large battleaxe on his back. He gave me this grin that was so obnoxious I had to look away, otherwise I'd deck him in the face before the match even started! Instead, I fixed my gaze on the object of my new obsession- A man of great beauty who sat on a throne above us, his 'majesty' Prince.  _Referring to him in such a manner irritates me just as much as looking at Undying Retribution's god awful grin._

"Warriors, are you ready to battle?" Prince asked, his voice amplified by some sort of magic. I nodded, and faced my opponent.  _Remember, Feng Wen. This is no different than with a monster. Humans have vital areas that can be targeted critical damage._ "Then begin!" Prince roared. The crowd went wild, screams and hollers resounding through the open arena.

I'm glad I was paying attention, as soon as Prince's last word left his mouth, Undying Retribution was in front of me in a flash, swinging his giant battleaxe right at me. I threw myself to the right, doing a roll to brace the impact. I slid roughly to a stop, only to see Undying Retribution in about to swing at me again.  _He doesn't look this fast at all!_ I began to toss myself to the side again, only to be met with a fist in my face. His punch was so powerful that I flew a good foot away, landing on my back. The force of the collusion made everything go blurry, making me unable to see anything but light. A minute later, I saw a rather unfocused image of Undying Retribution towering over me, battleaxe high above his head.  _Shit! I won't let it end like this!_

Before I could think another thought, let alone get my sight back, I took the sword I had been clinging to and propelled it right at Undying Retribution, unsure of where I was going to hit.  _I just need to catch him off guard!_  And caught him off guard I did when the sword penetrated his meager chest plate. I ripped out the sword and stabbed him in the stomach multiple times with lightning speed, blood staining his armor red. With my last jab, I flung the sword and myself backwards, embedding the sword into the dirt floor and sending my back to the ground once more.  _I got to do this just right to work, and quickly._

With all the strength I had left, I pulled myself back towards the sword, spreading my legs out. Just as planned, my feet caught a still stunned Undying Retribution by the ankles, sending him falling backwards as well. The motion caused by falling backwards caused his arms to go forward, arms that were still clinging to a huge battleaxe. What I had not planned however, was him letting go of the battleaxe mid-fall, causing the weapon to land neatly from his neck to his groin, cleaving him cleanly in half. Undying Retribution disappeared in a flash of light, and for a moment my jaw threatened to drop open; but instead I grinned triumphantly.

The crowd was silent, probably from the shock of seeing something so brutal happen, but then it exploded with chants of my name and screams. " **Yi Min wins!"** Boomed across the arena. Once more I looked at Prince, making sure to glare at him. Unfortunately Prince had his eyes closed, with an odd look of relief on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: For those who don't remember from the original series, the number 4 is considered to be a number of bad luck. Kind of like the number 13 in Western culture.


	12. Chapter 10

**"** ** _This... Is... Ridiculousssss!_** **"** I screamed as I ran away from a massive horde of women. _Who would of thought that after the match, I was going to find a huge crowd of girls waiting for me?_  I rounded a corner only to run straight into someone, ending up in a sprawled heap on the floor. When I looked to see who I ran into, it was a guy with long black hair and a familiar looking face.  _In fact, extremely familiar..._

"Dad!? What are you doing here!?" I yelped when I realized I had run into none other than my father.  _Dear God, Zhi must be right!_ Dad's eyes widened at the sight of me, agape in pure surprise. I then heard what sounded like a stampede approaching, and started to panic. "Dad, please! Hide me, I'm being chased!"

He remained stunned for a minute before he realized what was actually going on. He quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along the hall, taking all sorts of turns that were making me dizzy. We finally got to catch our breath in a narrow corridor that was empty. I looked up to get a better look at him, which rid any sort of doubt I still had. Even though his eyes were purple (Weird, the same shade as mine!) and hair long, I could never mistake the face that was inches away from mine this morning. "You..." I huffed, "Never answered my question!"

Dad met my gaze as he wheezed for more air, clutching his knees with his hands. When he finally caught his breath, he answered, "I was inspecting this building, making sure it was doing alright with such a large crowd. And..." He paused a minute and straightened up, looking unsure if he should continue, "I was going to meet someone."

I furrowed my brows in suspicion. "Were you going to meet Prince?"

Dad didn't answer, but he didn't need to. His expression betrayed him, causing me unbearable anguish.  _Why? What does Prince have to do with our family? Why can't they just tell me what happened? Why do I have to go on this wild goose chase where there are crazy people at every corner?_ I felt a lump form in my throat, and my eyes became blurry from the tears I was holding back. I closed my eyes tightly and clinched my fists, trying to will myself not to cry.

I felt my dad embrace me, bringing my head to his chest. "I'm sorry." He whispered, stroking my hair as he laid his chin on my head. "I'm sorry that we have hidden so much from you, I know it's frustrating. But we did it to protect you, not to hurt you. You've got to believe me, Feng Wen..."

I sniffled and rubbed my face against his robes, trying to wipe my eyes. "Why can't you just tell me? Why make me go through all this trouble?"

"There are a lot of reasons, Feng Wen. Too many to list at this time, in the place we are at. But you'll find out all of them in due time, so don't worry." Dad reassured me. I stepped back to look at his face, a face with that gentle smile I knew so well. He ran his hand through my hair one more time and then gave me a kiss on the forehead. "But one reason I don't want to tell you now is that even though you're frustrated, I can tell you've been having fun on your adventure too. And I want to see you complete the adventure you're having!" He said playfully, which brought a smile to my face.

"Alright, I won't let you down! You better be waiting there for me at the end!" I replied.

He broke his hold on me, and ruffled my hair. "Don't worry, I'll be there."

* * *

I was wandering about the streets of Infinite City when a familiar high pitched voice called, "Yi Min! Wait up!"

I turned around to see my chubby cheeked friend, Zhi Sano. "Hey Zhi! Where have you been? You told me you were a mile west from the arena, so I came as soon you PM'd me!"

"Yi, we're near the center of Infinite City. That's a good three miles south east of the arena..." Zhi said hopelessly.

"Oh... Sorry." I apologized, feeling awkward.

Zhi shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I wanted to talk to you about the match, it was completely mind-blowing! Actually wait, have you heard what people have been saying about you?"

"No...?" I replied, bewildered.  _People are talking about me?_

"Holy crap, where have you been? People are spreading all sorts of rumors about you! Some are saying you are Prince's dark twin, giving you the nickname The Dark Prince." Zhi said excitedly.

"Wait,  _ **what!?**_ " I yelled in utter disbelief, "How in the world are they relating me to Prince? I don't even know the guy! And why in the world are they calling me The Dark Prince? That's such a lame knockoff!"

"The biggest reason is probably because of your uncanny resembles to his Majesty, but you have dark characteristics like your hair and eyes. Second is the cold and brutal way you took out Undying Retribution, because Prince is known to have a brutal fighting style as well. Though I've heard he's very... Sadistic." Zhi shuddered at the thought.

"So I've heard." I said lamely, "And I didn't mean to! I didn't think the idiot was going to let go of his axe while he was falling!" I grit my teeth,  _I get this much of a reaction with just one battle, what will happen when I get to Prince?_

Zhi clapped me on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it, friend. Let's go get some drinks to celebrate!" He started to walk to the nearest bar, which happened to be the most popular as well.

Nervously I confessed, "Uh Zhi... I'm not old enough to legally drink."

Zhi turned around with wide eyes, "What!? How old are you, then?"

"I turned sixteen two months ago..." I said, feeling awkward.

Zhi looked astonished by my age, but he laughed it off. "You had me worried there, like you were the one who was twelve instead of me looking it! It's alright, this is a game! It's not like you're really drinking, there's no age restrictions here." Zhi then walked to the entrance of the bar, and waved for me to follow. Seeing there was no way to sway him otherwise, I obeyed.

* * *

"Another drink, handsome?" The waitress giggled. She like the other girls wore barely there outfits, causing many of the men in the tavern to leer at the ladies' bodies.

I shrugged, "Sure, why not?" And she poured another glass of Baijiu* for me. I started to down the glass like I did the five other ones I had, feeling the buzz I had getting stronger. However I was not drunk; no, that was Zhi at the moment. He had passed out at our table, his cheek smushed up against the wood in such a way drool was escaping his mouth. I shook my head at this pathetic sight, and figured I should probably get him to an inn so he could lay down. When I was finished with my glass, I paid the bill and tipped the waitress, then I slung Zhi over my shoulder to depart.

_Maybe I am a little drunk._ I wondered, since it seemed I was starting to having trouble figuring out where the road started and ended. Somehow I didn't get lost even though the inn was twenty minutes away from the bar, and got Zhi a room. The stairs was the hardest part, as I was starting to stumble from my heavy buzz and Zhi's lopsided weight on my shoulder. Finally I reached the bed and dumped him on there. "Zhi, I hope you don't plan on celebrating like this every time I win a match. I have no plans on carrying you up stairs ten more times!"

* * *

In the end I just stayed with Zhi till he logged out, which I logged out myself as well. I went to school, this time for my programming and computer science class. While my classes were pretty much a repeat of yesterday, I felt the amount of stares had increased. Since I rode with Dad again, I resigned myself to the same spot in the hall I was in last time to wait for him. Finally Dad's last class ended, with a stream of students walking out of the door. It was a lot like the sight I saw last time with a bunch of girls whispering and giggling like fools, but this time I saw a familiar face come out of the doorway.

"Hong Peng!" I exclaimed, standing up immediately as I saw him. Hong Peng hadn't seen me yet, but he waved regardless. When he did turn to look at me, he stopped walking immediately. I walked up to him, "What's wrong, Hong Peng? You're staring at me funny!"

"Yi Min? What are you doing here?" He blurted out loudly, which made that crowd of girls turn immediately to look at me.  _What? Shit, how does he know my in-game name? Wait, how did he recognize me!?_ I reached for the top of my head, only to feel my hair beneath my hands.  _Damn it, that's right! I didn't wear a hoodie to school today because it was so warm!_ Feeling panic raising up in my throat again with those girls inching themselves closer to us, I thought of the only refuge that was nearby. I grabbed Hong Peng and pulled him into my dad's classroom.

My dad was the only one in the classroom at that point, and was complete startled by the door slamming close. He turned to see Hong Peng and I, "Wha-What's going on!? Feng Wen, explain!"

"Please... There are people harassing me outside..." I whimpered, mimicking one of his pouts to use against him. My dad's facade melted immediately, and went into 'Protective Dad Mode'. He went to the door and sternly told the ladies that literally were now only a foot away from the door to go home. As he handled them, I turned to Hong Peng. "Don't you remember me from yesterday, I'm Feng Wen! Why did you call me Yi Min?"

Hong Peng seemed completely blown away, "Because you're my best buddy in  _Life 2.0_ , idiot! I'm Zhi Sano!"

Now it was my turn to be surprised, "What!? You don't look anything like Zhi! Tell me, what were we doing last night, then?"

Hong Peng gave a wild grin, "We were out drinking, Mr. 'I'm too young to drink'! And if I recall you didn't even get drunk, while I was plastered all over the table!"

I flayed my arms, "Plastered? I had to carry you up to a freaking room in an inn! You kept snoring too!"

"Whatever, man! And worst yet all the waitress were hitting you and completely ignored me!  _Again!_ " Hong Peng seemed quite displeased with this.

"Like I want their attention! Did you just see what happened when you mentioned my name out there? I-"

"Feng Wen, you were drinking!?" Dad shouted in disbelief, "You are sixteen! Why were you drinking!?"

"Dad wait, you don't understand! We were celebrating my victory and I didn't get drunk or anything-" I pleaded.

"Wait, hold on! He's your _**dad**_ **!?** " Hong Peng (Or should I say Zhi?) interrupted.

Dad and I stared at Hong Peng for a minute, who was giving us the same incredulous expression we had. I looked back at my dad, who gave me a worried look since our little secret was discovered. I wasn't too worried though, since even though I had been with Zhi for a short time, he has proven a loyal friend to stick with me considering the crazy things that seem to happen to me (Not to mention he would be absolutely insane to try something with my family being who they are.). I walked over to Hong Peng and grabbed him by the shoulders, "So, wanna come over for dinner? My mom is a fantastic cook!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baijiu: This is a Chinese liquor that literally translate to "wine" or "white wine". But make no mistake, this is actually a very hard liquor. Compare its potency to whiskey or gin.


	13. Chapter 11

While we were driving home, my dad told me that because Hong Peng found out we were related he wanted to talk to Hong Peng in private. I personally didn't think it was that big of a deal; I just know that when I graduated from high school, he told me that if I went to XX university I would have to keep our relationship on the down low so that way people wouldn't freak out and decide he was playing favorites. When we walked into the door, I was immediately greeted by Meatbun bouncing into my arms and my mother walking from the kitchen. She was in her yellow apron and her long hair back in a ponytail, like how she usually appeared as she made her meals.

She gave me a peck on the cheek and my dad a kiss, then looked over to Hong Peng to whom she gave a warm smile. "You never told me we were going to have a guest!"

"Ah, yes mom! It sort of happened unexpectedly, but this is my friend Hong Peng! He's in dad's class with me, so I invited him over to dinner." I replied.

My mom looked at my dad with indescribable expression, to which my dad nodded to. My mom's smile returned, "Well you know me, the more the merrier! I better get back to the kitchen where Kenshin is. Kenshin is wonderful at cleaning, but he's a terrible cook." With that she turned away and returned to the kitchen. I looked over to Hong Peng, who looked like his entire brain had stopped working. All he was doing was staring blankly at Meatbun, who was snuggling and wiggling around in my arms.  _Well I mean it's true you don't exactly see a living meatbun everyday, so I can understand being amazed by that._

"Meatbun-bun missed Feng Wen!" The little creature cried. Meatbun looked over at my dad with large watery eyes, "Meatbun-bun missed Gui too!"

My dad rubbed the top of Meatbun. "How about you go into the kitchen with Mama? I think she has some meatbuns for you snack on!" He told the pet gently, and with that Meatbun bounded out of my arms- straight to the kitchen. My dad then looked at me, hinting that he wanted to talk to Hong Peng now.

"Oh, uh sorry Hong Peng I'll be back! I forgot Mom wanted me to help with dinner tonight, so I'm going to go into the kitchen now!" With that I ran, leaving my dad and Hong Peng by themselves.

* * *

**Gui's PoV**

I closed the door of my office quietly, and turned to our guest Hong Peng. He sat in the brown chair next to my desk, looking nervous. I walked across the room, past Hong Peng to my own chair, which was large and of black leather. I placed my elbows on the desk and rested my chin against the back of my linked hands. I studied my new student, who apparently is also my son's companion on  _Life 2.0_. I figured that he was the boy that sat across from Feng Wen that time in Infinite Restaurant, but the only resemblance I saw of the boy in  _Life 2.0_ and Hong Peng was his dark brown hair.

"Hong Peng, do you know who I am?" I asked calmly.

"Uhm... You are Professor Min Gui Wen, one of the most famous literary scholars in the world. I've always been a big fan of your work..." Hong Peng replied anxiously.

I actually felt quite flattered, to find one of the few that was a fan of my work and not my face or my character Guiliastes. "Then if you are such a big fan, you must know what else I am famous for?"

Hong Peng nodded tentatively, "Yes, you're also the world famous Guiliastes of the Odd Squad. How could I not?"

"I see, then you probably have already figured out one reason I wanted to talk to you when you found out I'm Feng Wen's father."

Hong Peng replied with a nod once more, still looking nervous. "Because you don't want other people to find out- especially people that have a grudge against you."

_Good, he's a sharp kid._ "So how did you meet Feng Wen?"

Hong Peng looked surprised by my question. "How did I meet Yi- Er, Feng Wen? Well I was soloing undead monsters in the Forest of the Ghost Wolves, when I heard a loud roar some ways from me. I had heard about a mini-boss being in the woods but I had never seen it, so I went to investigate to see if that was it. To my luck, it was but it had captured someone by the neck. That someone was Feng Wen!

"I used the spell Holy Blessing to shock the mini-boss into letting him go, and then healed him. Feng Wen then took out the mini-boss in one blow! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, how he jumped on the back of that thing and broke it in pieces with one stab to the neck!"  _So he admires Feng Wen's swordsmanship huh? Feng Wen is the Bloody Elf's heir, after all._

I grinned, thinking this was the best time as any to let the cat out of the bag. "Well, I'm not surprised." I said nonchalantly, "He is Prince's son, after all."

_Poor boy is going to need therapy with how many times he's been shocked, today._  Were my thoughts when I saw the Hong Peng's reaction. "Come on, surely you knew something was up when you found out that I was Feng Wen's father and he looks so much like Prince. Or when we opened the door Prince's famous pet Meatbun came to greet us? Or how my wife mentioned Kenshin, who is known as Prince's personal bodyguard?" I asked, a little amused by Hong Peng's glazed eyes.

Hong Peng refocused on me, moving his mouth but no words coming out. Finally he mumbled, "Yes but... You're married to a... Feng Wen said 'mom'..."

I gave a strong, hearty laugh. "Oh goodness! You're just as bad as when I found out!" I wiped a tear out of my eye, then leaned forward to look at Hong Peng closely. "Prince is a woman! She was the first to log into  _Second Life_  and was granted a wish- her wish was to be a guy so she could best her twin brother! I didn't know when I first met Prince, but it didn't matter to me because I loved Prince for his personality, not his beauty. Eventually, we got married and had two children- Lan Lan and Feng Wen."

Hong Peng eyes had widened considerably as I talked, but I saw that it was a moment of clarity than confusion. His expression became calm and he nodded, "Yes, that actually makes sense. It still sounds crazy, Prince being a woman and all, but it makes sense because of Feng Wen. He shares a lot of characteristics with Prince. But..." Hong Peng frowned, "You know that Feng Wen is playing the game, and you probably know why he's playing it too. Why have you never told him who you guys were? Why make him go through all this trouble of a battle tournament just to talk to Prince, when in fact right now he's making dinner with him-er, her right now?"

_I knew this would come up._ I sighed, feeling more guilt in my chest. I could tell this kid more right now than my own son, which killed me. I knew Lan felt the same way, since she seemed so upset the times she saw Feng Wen in game or when Feng Wen came home yesterday blurting out questions about Prince. "Before Feng Wen was born, we had problems regarding my daughter and nephew's safety. All of the Odd Squad's identities are publicly known, except for Prince's. This and three of the Odd Squad members are well known for their status in real life as well (Lolidragon, Doll and myself.) made our family probably one of the largest targets in the world for criminals. And even with the protection that we had, our children were involved in a kidnapping and multiple assaults.

"This was one of three major reasons we never told the children about  _Second Life_ or who we were. Better for them to not know and go on with their lives than to know and mistakenly slip up to the wrong person. The second reason was we didn't want neither of them to regard Kenshin or Sunshine as not human, since they were NPC bosses in  _Second Life_. The third was the gag order that was put down on anyone closely involved with Prince by the international authorities."

Hong Peng was quiet till I finished my last sentence, which he exclaimed, "What!? Why would they care that much about some celebrity!?"

I frowned, "That I can't even reveal to you. But because  _Second Life_ was no more, we felt there was no reason to disclose to our children who we were, it was a thing of the past. But that's not the case, anymore." I leaned back against my chair now, rubbing my chin. "For Feng Wen, we had to be even more careful. As he grew up, we noticed more and more the similarities he had to Prince, not just in his appearance but his personality. While he may have my brain, his heart and behaviors are much like Prince's. With me being his father, not only could someone make the connection to Prince's real identity, but make him more of target than his sister and cousin were!"

"So where does Feng Wen's quest to talk to Prince fall into all of this? How does he avoid this gag by doing this?" Hong Peng asked, a hint of skepticism in his voice.

I gave another sigh, "Feng Wen is an incredibly intelligent boy, even though he has his moments of being dense. We have no doubt that he will have figured it out by the time he gets to Prince, especially with the history of  _Second Life_ being brought back to the forefront of my generation's mind. We also saw he was having fun, and that even if we could tell him we wouldn't at this point because that would make everything he's accomplished so far meaningless."

Hong Peng narrowed his eyes, "And what if he doesn't? After all, he hasn't even recognized Prince as his own mother! What will you do then?"

I wasn't sure how to respond, because I honestly didn't know what we would do if he hadn't figured it out by that point. "We... will tell him what we can. I'm sure we'll think of something, there has to be some sort of loophole around the gag order." I admitted, feeling a tad downcast.  _What will we do if he hasn't figured it out by then? How can I be there at the end of his journey when he can never complete it?_

We heard a knock on the door, and the door was pushed opened a little. Kenshin popped his head through to door and in his monotonous tone he said, "Dinner is ready."


	14. Chapter 12

**Hong Peng's PoV** **  
**

_Feng Wen was not kidding when he said his mom was a good cook!_ I thought to myself as we left, my stomach full of pork geng*. Their house was actually in the neighborhood that bordered mine, so I told them I would just take a bus home. Feng Wen insisted that he would walk with me to the bus stop, even though his entire family and I said it was not necessary to do so.  _Geez, now that I know who his family is I have to protect Feng Wen's identity now too!_

"So what did you think of my family, Hong?" Feng Wen asked innocently when we were two blocks away from the bus stop. I bit my lip, the feeling of being caught in this web of problems already. I wished I could have said what was really on my mind,  _Feng Wen, your parents are the most famous (gay) couple of Second Life, with your mother being Prince himself! Your aunt I easily recognized as the gorgeous thief Lolidragon of Odd Squad; your housekeeper is Kenshin, who is known as one of the most powerful players in all of Second Life; and you have a living meatbun as a pet for crying out loud!_   _Your family is absolutely insane, yet such nice people at the same time._

But I knew I couldn't say that, now that I had to keep this stupid secret for the sake of Feng Wen's safety and quest. I still didn't understand all their reasons for doing this, but I better obey because I don't know the whole story. After all, there could be something more at stake here than Feng Wen finding out his dad was gay for Prince.  _Hm, but maybe I could throw some hints along the way to help Feng Wen understand. Nearly everyone knows Min Gui Wen is actually Guiliastes. So he's going to find out eventually, right?_

"They're great! But I had no idea that your dad was the famous Guiliastes of the Odd Squad! Hey, do you think he could get us into the castle to meet Prince?" I asked excitedly. Though I was just using this response to cover my hide a bit, the idea of meeting his mom as Prince and touring the castle was pretty cool.

I had never seen Feng Wen's expressions change so fast. First it was a look of surprise, and then it changed to something that almost looked like contempt. Then I remembered what he told me in game before the match, and had to hold in the explosive laughter that was threatening to escape me.  _Dear Buddha, Professor Min was right! This guy can be pretty dense! He thinks Prince caused marital problems for his parents, when his mom **is**  Prince! He basically has a vendetta against his mom's alter ego!_

"I... I don't think so. Actually, before I found you last night I had met my dad in game, and he told me that there was a purpose behind everything I'm doing when I found out he was on his way to meet Prince..." He replied quietly.

Now we were now at the bus stop, with the bus conveniently just a block down the street when we arrived. I turned my head, intrigued by this new information. "Really? Tell me more about it in-game tonight, you got another match tonight don't you?"

Feng Wen seemed caught off guard by this change in topic, "Uh, yeah! It's in four hours, so I'll probably do some homework before I get on. I'll see you on!" He waved and started to turn back as the bus rolled up and opened the doors to let me in. I lingered a minute, watching him walk away with an uneasy feeling. I then jumped on the bus, unaware of the significance of that moment.

* * *

As I walked back home, the entire time I felt insecure. Half way a feeling of being watched crept over me, and I quickened my pace. When I was on the block my house was on, I broke into a run. I kept looking back behind me the entire time of trip, but I never saw anyone or anything, not even an animal. When I burst through the door, my startled family had clicked the TV off just as I entered in. They all looked at me with concerned eyes, which I quickly answered, "I was just getting some exercise! After all, can't just sit around all day, right?"

My mom and uncle nodded dumbly, but I knew I didn't completely fool my dad or aunt. Their eyes were filled with skepticism, but they didn't question me. I went to shower to wash off the cold sweat that had developed from my nerves and sprinting to my house.  _It was just your mind playing tricks on you, Feng Wen. You know being alone in the dark does that to people._ With that pushed out of my head, I walked back to my room where I had my laptop at. I pulled out my textbook for Computer Programming and the search engine on my computer.  _Researching about the Odd Squad and Second Life can considered homework a bit, can't it? After all my father/professor is a famous member of the Odd Squad and in Computer Programming we will be covering this chapter..._

_**Sometime** **later...** _

" **Argh!** " I yelled as I threw the textbook on the floor, "This thing doesn't even mention what happened to Second Life! It just tells about the history of VR games and the development of the game!" The textbook landed in a crumpled mess next to my desk, the cover and pages getting bent and even hearing a tear. Knowing my parents would not like me abusing a book that cost them hundreds of dollars for my education, I picked up the textbook and laid it on the desk. The book was opened in the same chapter I was previously looking at, at a page I must have overlooked that including some pictures. One of them was of a familiar looking man with long black hair with glasses, his eyes narrowed in concentration at the computer screen that was also in the picture. The caption underneath it read,  _Lead Developer of Second Life, Long Dian, working on coding a NPC, high level AIs that Second Life was known for._

"Long Dian... Long is Shui-yima's maiden name, and  _Second Life_ was made by her company. And his face... Why does he look so familiar? Is it because he and Shui-yima might be related? Speaking of Shui-yima..." I looked up at my computer screen to be met with a large picture of my aunt in armor making an arrogant victory pose while standing on a man. A man that I could not mistake for but my uncle, Feng Yang Ming! "I can't believe that my Coach and Calvin Klien loving aunt is Odd Squad's very own Lolidragon! And that my uncle is Wu Qing of Dark Emperor, another well known guild! Mom and Dad must have met each other through Yang-shushu then since he married Lolidragon." My mind was swirling with all this information, and frankly it was giving me a slight headache.

I rubbed my temples, feeling a throbbing pressure building up. "I better get to sleep..." I mumbled to myself, knowing that I had stayed up past when I usually got on, and my match was in a hour. I felt my throat itch from thrist,  _But before that, I better get a glass of water for this parched throat._ I got up and head to the kitchen, which was the only room in the house with a light on. When I walked in I saw the Dictator of Life and Kenshin together, talking about something.

"... that if you start missing with the menus again, she's going to find a way to prevent you from coming into the kitchen." Kenshin said quietly, his face showing no emotion as usual. They then turned at me, with the Dictator of Life looking startled. Kenshin didn't show anything, he could have been scared out of his mind and he probably wouldn't have shown it. My eyes widened though when I looked at the Dictator of Life, the metaphorical lightbulb going off in my head.

"Dictator! Can I ask you a question?" I asked hurriedly, grabbing my water while at it.

The Dictator of Life nodded calmly, a small smile on his face. "Of course, Feng Wen. It is one of the many reasons I am here."

"Did Long Dian create you?" I decided to be blunt and to the point, so that way there was no potential wiggle room for him to crawl away with. Then my previous statement was proven wrong- Not only did Dictator of Life's expression changed to absolutely shock, but Kenshin's eyes had gotten a bit wide from my question.  _I... I just asked something really serious, didn't I? For Kenshin to actually show a silver of emotion..._

"Yes." The Dictator of Life said simply. I waited, expecting more from him but he said nothing more, he just stared at me blankly.  _I guess that's his way of saying he isn't going to say anything else._  Seeing that I was just going to cut into my training if I continued to wait, I bid Kenshin and the Dictator of Life goodnight, and went to my room. My laptop was still on, and sat down to turn it off. Before I did though, I scrolled down a bit more on my aunt's page on the wiki site for the Odd Squad members to find a group picture of them. There was a wolf man with a pretty woman with a circlet in his in embrace, invoking the image of a couple deeply in love. There was a cute little girl with red hair, looking like she was twirling around when the picture was taken. My aunt was making a cute expression with a wink as she clung to one of Prince's biceps, who was making a victory pose with a peace sign on the other arm. On the other side of Prince was my father, looking exactly in the picture as he did in the game when I first met him last night. He held a guquin in his hands in front of him, but he wasn't looking at the camera. No, instead he was looking at Prince with an expression that made me furious. An expression of admiration and desire, as if he wanted to be one clinging onto Prince's bicep, not my aunt.

The screen went black since it finally turned off. I sighed, flipped the lid down and flopped onto my bed. I looked at the clock, which read 10 P.M.  _Only a half hour till your match, let's forget this for now and get on._  I put on my headset, and turned it on. I felt the induced sleep immediately, and drifted off into the black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pork Geng: Geng is a type of thick Chinese soup that is quite common in Taiwan as well. It can be made with literally any kind of ingredient, so Lan decided she wanted pork that night.


	15. Things of Royal Concern

**Min Lan's PoV**

* * *

Even though I was preparing dinner, with Kenshin chopping up the vegetables for the pork geng, I felt my thoughts drifting back to last night on  _Life 2.0_. I was absolutely bored out of my mind from having to watch all those battles for the battle tournament, but my mind and heart were racing when I had heard Feng Wen's in-game name announced for battle. The sheer anxiety of watching my baby boy being knocked into the dirt and having a battle axe over his body had caused me to sweat all over and my knuckles to clinch tightly to my throne, even though I knew in the back of my mind that it was just a game. However I was relieved when I saw the Feng Wen recover so quickly, and finished off that guy in such a gory way.  _I wonder if he had planned for that axe to fall on him..._

I heard the front door open and click shut, which meant the missing members of my family were home. Meatbun who had been busy eating the meatbuns I had made for a side dish, followed me as I walked into the living room. There was my husband and my son at the door... And another young man.  _This is extremely unusual, to have someone over I have never met. Maybe he is a son of someone we know?_  I walked over to my son, pecking his cheek and then to my husband whom I greeted with our usual kiss. I looked over to the stranger, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, had dark brown hair and eyes. His face would have been intimidating to look at if it wasn't for the fact he had an expression of utter disbelief. I quickly followed his line of sight to find him staring at Meatbun, who had jumped right into Feng Wen's arms.  _He's surprised by Meatbun...?_

I smiled at the young man, "You never told me we were going to have a guest!" I said, directing it to Gui and Feng Wen.

Feng Wen spoke up immediately, "Ah, yes mom! It sort of happened unexpectedly, but this is my friend Hong Peng! He's in dad's class with me, so I invited him over to dinner."

Alarm bells sounded in my mind, and I looked directly at Gui, trying once again to perform telepathy with him.  _Did he find out about you and Feng Wen? Can he be trusted or will I have to call Arctic Fox?_ I thought anxiously. Gui seemed to have received my message as he nodded in response, his eyes saying,  _"Don't worry, I'll talk to him."_ Having been reassured I replied to Feng Wen, "Well you know me, the more the merrier! I better get back to the kitchen where Kenshin is. Kenshin is wonderful at cleaning, but he's a terrible cook." Which was true, as Kenshin was only good at washing and cutting vegetables. I went back to the kitchen, and started working again.

Soon, Meatbun came back with Feng Wen on his tail. He looked a little frazzled and announced, "Uh Mom, Dad wanted me to make more meatbuns since Hong Peng is over!" Feng Wen then immediately started preparing more meatbuns, which was good as Meatbun had eaten about half of what was originally there. However he kept looking back towards the entryway, leaning back to see if he could see anything going on. I smirked,  _He wants to know what they're going to talk about. I'm sorry son, but I can't allow you to sneak around this time!_

* * *

I could see Feng Wen's frustration grow more and more visible as I kept asking him for additional help; especially when my brother and Lolidragon came into the kitchen. Eventually Gui and Hong Peng came into the kitchen. While he appeared calm, when he looked over at me he seemed a bit jittery.  _I guess that's to be expected when you find out that Prince is making you pork geng and meatbuns to eat._ Feng Wen was setting the table when he saw them walk in, and he quickly laid out all the plates to run over to Hong Peng. At the same time, Gui walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "He's Feng Wen's companion in the game, the same one that was sitting with him in the cafe. He's a good kid though, and smart. He can be trusted, after all his grades is at stake." With the last sentence he said half-jokingly.

I looked over at Hong Peng, trying to see the resemblance between him and that vague image I had of a chubby cheeked child. I squinted in disbelief, "Are you sure? He doesn't really look like him outside of his hair..." I mumbled.

Gui let out a quiet snicker as we walked to the dinner table, "You're one to talk, dear wife. You're considered the most handsome man alive!" Which he promptly received a punch in the arm from me.

* * *

Dinner started out quiet, since no one was very sure what to say considering the awkward circumstance at hand. Eventually though, discussions were slowly made, most of it around Hong Peng. I learned that he had met Feng Wen in the Forest of Ghost Wolves, which wasn't too far from Infinite City. He told us how much he admired Feng Wen's swordsmanship and what a cool guy he was, which made Feng Wen turn red with embarrassment. He recounted Feng Wen's first match in the Battle Tournament, which I already knew about for obvious reasons.  _I'm the one who presided the entire thing!_  But for the others, Gui, Yang Ming, and Lolidragon; they were listening with open ears. At the part where Hong Peng was explaining the gory finish of Undying Retribution (So that's what his name was!) by splitting him in half, Lolidragon looked over at me with an all knowing smirk that said,  _Like mother, like son!_

After dinner, Hong Peng told us that he didn't live too far away from here and was just going to take the bus home. Feng insisted on walking him down there, no matter what any of us said.  _It isn't that long of a walk to that bus stop, so I guess it'll be alright._ But maybe it was just me being an overprotective mother, but I couldn't shake this feeling that he shouldn't go down there. Then again, everyone else seemed to be showing the same feeling...

When Feng Wen and Hong Peng left the house, I decided to try to calm my nerves by watching a little television. Letting Kenshin handle the clean up, I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. The other three joined me, with me sitting between Gui and Lolidragon. I started lazily flipping through the channels, trying to see if anything entertaining was on. It was becoming a blur to me as I saw nothing that interested me until all the sudden Lolidragon yelled, "Wait, stop!"

"Huh?" I replied dumbly, feeling very confused. Lolidragon ripped the remote out of my hand and changed the channel to one of those celebrity gossip channels. I turned to her, "Really Lolidragon? You're going to watch this when we could honestly just call the celebrities up ourselves?"

"No, you idiot! Look!" She said, forcibly turning my head to look at the screen. There on the screen was my husband in his avatar form, Guiliastes in an embrace with a young man. The young man's face was obscured by being buried in Gui's chest, but he had black hair and elven ears. I was getting prepared to unleash Hell on Gui when the young man's face turned to look at the camera, and I saw the familiar face of Feng Wen looking back at me, his purple eyes in tears.

_**"Has Guiliastes finally given up on Prince?"**_ A female voice asked,  _ **"It has been known for decades the infamous infatuation Guiliastes has for the Bloody Elf, but last night we caught the Demon Bard in an intimate embrace with the new favorite in the Battle Tournament, Yi Min-who is also know as the Dark Prince! Can you really blame him though, with those dashing, dark looks that mirror his Highness'?"**_

_**"Jia Li, how do you think Prince feels about Guiliastes pursuing another man? After all, the entire Odd Squad came back after thirty two years had passed! With no wife in sight, surely the Blood Stained Overlord harbors some feelings for him?"**_ A very effeminate male voice asked.

**_"Well Liang Qiao, all I'll say to that is if Yi Min wins the Battle Tournament we are going to be in for a treat when he faces his Majesty! Even if Prince doesn't have feelings for Guiliastes, I am sure Yi Min will want to prove himself against his Bard's old flame! And if Prince does have a soft place in his heart for the Demon Bard... Hohoho, this will be the love triangle of the century!"_** Jia Li replied.  
 _ **  
**_"Gui what is the meaning of this!? Why are you with Feng Wen in the game!? And why is he crying!?" I asked, standing up and raising my fist at him. Lolidragon was literally rolling on the floor laughing from the dialogue on TV and my reaction. _First it looked like he's cheating on me, now I find out he's meeting our son in the game behind my back! He better have a good explanation or he won't be able to crawl off this couch!_

Gui's were glazed, staring blankly at the screen. When he heard me yell though, he looked at me and cringed immediately, "Dear, you don't understand! Let me explain! I quite literally ran into Feng Wen at the arena when I had finished my rounds, when I was going to meet you! He recognized me, told me he was being chased by a mob, and begged me to help him. I did what any loving father would do and helped him by losing them in all those hallways and corridors that are in the arena. When I thought we lost them, we stopped to catch our breath.

"There he asked me why was I there, and I... I told him I was going to inspecting the building and that I was meeting someone. He asked me if it was Prince, and well... I couldn't lie so I said yes. Then he started crying, asking me why everything had to be so complicated... How could I not go over and comfort my son?" Gui said, as if remembering the moment was going to set him on the verge of crying himself. I looked at the still they had of Feng Wen snuggled up to his father, his watery eyes filled with emotion.  _Even as Prince, I don't think I could resist not holding him either..._

I sat back down on the couch and hugged Gui, "Okay, okay. I'm sorry I overreacted." Gui was elated and squeezed me tight back.

Lolidragon coughed a couple of times, and sat back down next to me, giving me a provoking smirk. "Don't want to break up the love fest, but you do realize that Yi Min is now publicly associated with the Odd Squad because of this, right?"

I turned my head in alarm, "You're not telling me people watch this crap, are you?"

Lolidragon shrugged, "Even though viewers of Live TV are at an all time low, most of them watch the news or gossip channels. And this is probably spreading like wildfire on the internet."

Gui and I couldn't help but groan, "I was so certain I lost them, how did they find us...?" Gui asked. We heard the door being unlocked, and quietly shut off the TV so Feng Wen wouldn't see it. Feng Wen opened the door and slammed it behind him, huffing and puffing out of breath.

We all looked at him, and he noticed our expressions of curiosity and concern. "I was just getting some exercise! After all, can't just sit around all day, right?" He said quickly, looking worn out. _Well I suppose that makes sense, after all we had a large dinner and he hasn't exactly been exercising as much as he used to. I don't want my son to get fat!_


	16. Chapter 13

**Hong Peng's PoV**

When I logged in, I was in a bed at an inn.  _Well Feng Wen did say I got pretty wasted last night, and that he took me to an inn..._ In the upper left corner of my vision, I was met with something incredibly unexpected. I had two alerts, to which I opened up the alert screen.

**Two Friendship Requests**

_**Guiliastes (Odd Squad)** _

_**Prince (Odd Squad)** _

**Do you wish to accept?**

It took me a second for my brain to start working again. Yes, I met the famous duo in real life, and Prince makes a mean Pork Geng, but I didn't think they were going to friend me in  _Life 2.0!_ "I accept both friend requests!" I said hastily, and the system dinged in success. I looked at my friend list, with Yi Min showing offline, but Guiliastes and Prince showing online.  _Well he did say he was going to be a bit later today because of homework._

I received a PM, and I opened it up. It was from Prince,  _"Hey uh... Is Feng Wen on yet?"_  He asked. His voice's depth was like that between tenor and alto, too high for a tenor yet too low for an alto- to be expected of a woman playing a male character in virtual reality.

_"No, he isn't. He told me he was going to do some homework before he got on, tonight."_  I replied, not surprised by the subject.  _After all if it wasn't for meeting Yi Min I wouldn't be privately conversing with his mom-er his Highness. I guess I should refer to him like I would any other player instead of 'Mrs. Min' or 'Feng Wen's mom'._

_"Oh, that's good! Uhm..."_ Prince trailed off,  _"Could you come to the castle then, so we could speak to you in person? I'll let the guards know you are my personal guest, so they shouldn't give you too much trouble."_

I couldn't believe it, being invited to the castle by Prince himself. _"Ah, sure! I'll come right away, then."_ True to my word, I left immediately from the inn and made a beeline to the castle. I stopped at the massive steel gates that had two burly guards standing on either side of it. They were menacing and mean looking, perfect for keeping unwanted visitors at bay.

"What do you want, kid? Can't you see we're too busy protecting his Majesty to play with you?" One of the guards jeered. The other laughed stupidly at the first guards remark, a laugh that sounded like he was trying to cough up a hairball like a cat.

I grimaced at them, but I kept my cool and calmly replied, "Gentlemen, I'm Zhi Sano. I was told personally by his Highness to come right away."

Both of the guards started to roar with laughter, making pedestrians stop to see what was so funny. "Please kid, every guest of his Highness' that has passed through me has been high profile players. Not some chubby cheeked pre-teen. Come back when you've grown a couple of inches, huh?" Said the first guard, with the other one sounding like he was going to deliver the mother of all hairballs.

Just when I was about to PM Prince for help, a deep male voice called out, "What seems to be the problem here, gentlemen?" On the other side of the gate was someone who towered above everyone else. But he wasn't a man, no he was a wolf-man. And how could I not recognized the patron of my class, Ugly Wolf! He looked at me, and smiled a wolfish grin. "Ah, Zhi Sano. It's nice to meet you. And you're a priest as well! But... Why are you still standing on that side of the gate?" He looked at me questionably.

"Well uh..." I flickered my eyes at both of the guards, both of which seemed to have lost the color in their face. I could have been mean and told Ugly Wolf what happened, but I decided to be the bigger man in this case. "We were just discussing the amazing battles that happened last night, right boys? Who are you betting on, boys?"

"Ah ha ha, right kid the battles!" The first guard hurriedly replied, the other guard making a fake laugh (Which thankfully didn't sound like a hairball.). "I think I'll bet on that merciless killer Yi Min, the way he cleaved his opponent in half is the kind of style that is worthy of his Majesty to battle!"

_Okay, maybe I'll be a smaller man than I planned._  I thought menacingly, "What a coincidence, I've actually gotten to meet the guy! I think he will go pretty far too!" I said, trying to hide the evil grin that was trying to explode on my face.  _Can't say he's my best friend sadly, who knows if these guys are loudmouths._ To my satisfaction, I started to hear their armor making a small rattle. They opened the gates so I could enter, stopping in front of Ugly Wolf who had a perplexed look.

He seemed to have realized I was finally on the other side with him as he seemed to do a weird jerk and look like he just got pulled out of a thought. "Ah, sorry! Shall we make our way to the throne room, then?" I nodded and we started forward, towards the giant doors that were the main entrance to the castle. It was a good half mile walk from the gates to the main doors, walking through a lush garden that was decorated with marble fountains and beautiful fauna of so many origins. In a way I was glad we walked in silence during this part, as I was just too distracted by the beauty and brilliance behind the design of the garden. Then I vaguely remembered that it was said Guiliastes was the architect of pretty much all of Infinite City.  _Man, they weren't joking about how intelligent Professor Min is. To have this level of skill in something he isn't even trained in is mindblogging..._

The giant oak doors opened inward as soon as we were a foot away from them, showing the wonderfully done stonework of the interior if the castle. We walked in and were greeted by people that were milling around the large entry room. Okay actually I wasn't greeted, it was Ugly Wolf with "Greetings, Master Wolf." or just a simple "Master Wolf". He nodded politely to the individuals, who looked as though they were on cloud nine just being able to talk to him.  _Probably big admirers of the Odd Squad, maybe even of Ugly Wolf himself. Working here is probably a dream come true to them! But I can't really blame them, I'm just excited as they are to be here. Before I found out about Yi Min's secret, I was just like them; looking up at the castle with all sorts of wishes of being able to just to be inside of it once._  I couldn't help but inwardly laugh, at myself and the events that happened so suddenly over the past few days.  _Now I can say that I've sat at Prince's dinner table and eaten her cooking!_

"So this is the entry hall as you can tell!" Ugly Wolf said with a gesture of his hand. "The throne room is just up these stairs in front of us, and the bathrooms are on the right side of the balcony there." I nodded, since I really wasn't sure how to address Ugly Wolf.  _Should I call him Master Wolf or should I be less formal with just Ugly Wolf?_ We ascended the stairs and Ugly Wolf opened the double doors of to the throne room. He went through them, which I followed directly behind him.

"I have told the media time and time again, what Odd Squad members choose to do in private is their business!" The familiar voice of my PM was heard, albeit much colder and stern. I peeked my head a little around Ugly Wolf to see Prince talking to a man standing in front of the throne that he was seated in, at Prince's right hand was Guiliates, who wore a stony expression as he transcribed the conversation. With his elbow resting on the arm of the throne and his chin propped up against that arm's hand, one could mistake Prince for being bored if it wasn't for the chilling glare he was giving the man.  _Dear God, his aura was powerful from a distance... But this close it's..._ I felt my knees shaking in anxiety.

"That being said, I am tired with your people wasting my time with rumors and gossip when there are much more important things to be done. I am finished with my audience with you." Prince said with finality. I saw the shoulders of the man droop down and he turned around to walk away. He had a computer tablet in his left hand and a stylus in his right. Getting the feeling I probably shouldn't be seen, I hid quickly out of sight of the man behind Ugly Wolf as he passed by. As soon as the doors closed behind the man, Prince let out an exasperated roar. "Argh! That was the fifth one today and it's only been a hour since I logged on! I don't want to do anymore audiences!" His red eyes smoldered with raising angry, which was terrifying knowing how sadistic he could get.

"Prince... You don't want to frighten your guest, do you?" Ugly Wolf asked calmly, moving to the side to reveal me to Prince's line of sight.

Prince stared at me like he was a deer in headlights, "Oh! Feng Wen's friend!" Prince exclaimed, as the lightbulb clicked in his mind. "So timely! You weren't kidding when you said you would come right away!"

My mind was struggling as to what to react. Part of me said,  _Relax Hong Peng, it's just Mrs. Min, Feng Wen's mom! She's a really sweet lady and makes delicious food!_ While the other part of me said,  _What are you crazy? This is freaking Prince, Overlord of the Central Continent and the Bloody Elf! He could tear you limb from limb and declare you Kill on Sight for everyone in the continent if you say the wrong thing!_ In the end I stumbled and stuttered saying, "Uhm... Uh... O-Of c-course your M-Majesty..."

Prince looked confused for a moment, but then started giggling trying to cover up his smile with his hand. In the corner of my eye I noticed that Guiliastes seemed to have visibly relaxed at this reaction. When Prince stopped laughing he waved his hand, "There's no need for that! My son's best friend is my son as well!" He said cheerfully, and extended his hand outward.

Feeling way more comfortable, I reached out and took his hand. "And my best friend's family is my family as well!"

"And with that, please just call me Gui outside of the classroom!" Feng Wen's dad piped up, walking over to us from his plush chair next to Prince's throne. "How about we discuss the reasons behind this meeting over a small snack?"

Prince's eyes lit up at the suggestion, "You know me too well, my dearest Gui. To the kitchen!" And Prince started to run off to the door at the left side of the throne room.

"Wait, your Highness!" Gui shouted, but realized it was too late for Prince to hear him. "That's... The wrong way..." Gui ran off to bring Prince back, leaving me by myself in the throne room since Ugly Wolf had left after he introduced me.  _So that's where Feng Wen's sense of direction comes from..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! It's been a while since I've transferred some chapters over to Ao3, so I decided to try and get them all over (Including the sequel) by the end of the week. I hope everyone has been having a good year so far!


	17. Chapter 14

**Feng Wen's PoV**

* * *

 

As soon as I got on I PM'd Zhi to meet me at the inn since I didn't trust myself to not get lost. By the time Zhi showed up it was too late to train, so instead we went straight to the arena. I felt my nerves rile up again, uncertainty of the outcome being the cause.  _Last time was out of sheer luck and reaction time, I didn't even get the chance to train either..._

I felt a small hand grasp my shoulder, I looked and found Zhi giving me a confident smile. "Go get 'em, Yi! After all you got to live up to your new nickname, right?"

"Ugh, don't even talk about that! I hate it already!" I said, trying to sound annoyed. But while the title of the Dark Prince annoyed me, the reassurance from Zhi made me smile. I waved goodbye to Zhi and then headed off towards my gate for my match, the crowd of the arena began to murmur as I pushed through them. My expression of disinterest kept anyone from approaching me, but that didn't stop them from trying to call for my attention which caused me to grimace.  _This is getting really annoying._

With over half of the original number of participants gone, the Battle Tournament was running smooth and ahead of schedule. When I reached my gate I learned from the gatekeeper that if I won this round, tomorrow I would have two matches instead of one. Hearing this was the kind of motivation I needed, I would be two steps closer to Prince instead of one after this match. As the gate pulled up to let me through, I'm not sure whether it was in determination or arrogance that I started to pity my opponent.  _I'm sorry whoever you are, but the only way you're leaving this arena is in a pillar of light._

As I entered the familiar grounds, the crowd roared. But unlike before where there were just murmurs, they screamed my name or that dreadful title they gave me. I was the first one to enter this time, and I waited for my opponent to arrive through their gate. Their gate rolled up and revealed...  _What in the world?_

To make sure I wasn't imagining anything, I quickly glanced upwards to see the figure I expected to see on the same throne from yesterday- Prince. Instead of disbelief from the copycat of him that just entered the arena, he had his hand covering his face. I couldn't blame him as I looked back at the guy; while he had Prince's signature white hair and red eyes, the rest of his features made him look like a sickly albino instead of an exotic. With a crazed smile, the guy pointed at me and proclaimed, "You... Disgust me! You think you can even compare to his Majesty with your moronic little nickname and face? Don't make me laugh, I am the only one that could ever be on his level!"

_Oh this is lovely, I get to fight one of his fanboys._ I thought as I rolled my eyes at this declaration of... Whatever that was. Prince seemed to have gotten over his moment of exasperation to ask, "White Knight, are you ready?"

The guy, who's name was even lamer than I thought it was going to be, looked up at his idol with utter awe. "Y-Yes, yo-your glorious majesty!" He sputtered out, his hands clutching his chest like his heart was about to explode out of it.  _Is this guy for real? I mean seriously, who would act like that over a freaking celebrity?_

Prince turned to me, with an unusual expression that seemed to suggest anxiety. "And what about you, Yi Min?"

"I was born ready." I replied, a bit smugger than I intended. Prince raised a brow but nodded, and gave the signal to begin. Learning from my previous match, I immediately sprinted towards White Knight. After all sometimes the best defense is a good offense, right? I swung my short sword directly over White Knight, but was blocked by White Knight's dao. I quickly flipped spun my sword backwards, hoping I could get a hit from below but he blocked that as well. In my surprise, he attempted to take a slash at my stomach since his sword was already in the perfect position for the strike, but I was quick enough to dodged it by falling into a backwards somersault.

I brought my sword up to meet a downward strike, and then blocked another quick slash to my side. This guy was impressively fast, and with enough strength to cause me to stagger as I felt the blows land against my sword.  _This guy is better than I thought he would be._ Was all I could think before his sword suddenly engulfed in fire. "Inferno Slash!" He yelled as he swung his blazing blade at me. I knew I wouldn't be able to block it, so I used my limbs to shield my vital areas.

My luck paid out again, as I still had half of my health left. If I hadn't blocked my vital areas, I would have been a goner for sure. But even so, I was left weakened and my left arm crippled from receiving the most damage.  _How am I suppose to fight against something so strong? And more importantly, you can use elemental attacks in these battles!?_ I hadn't learned any sort of elemental attacks, all my special attacks were neutral! I wobbled to stand upright, barely having the strength with my limbs taking so much damage. White Knight seemed to have already declared himself the winner, showing off his Inferno Slash to Prince and the crowd by waving his blazing dao around in the air. Admittedly it looked as if he was right, since I was at a loss as to how to defeat someone with such a strong attack in my state. I thought back to how full of myself I was earlier, telling myself no one stood a chance against me.  _This is what happens when you get too prideful, Feng Wen._ Out of curiosity I looked over to Prince, just to see his reaction to one of his more flamboyant fanboys. And that was the best thing for my morale, because what I saw made me completely savage.

Standing behind Prince's throne with a hand on one of the Blood Elf's shoulders was Gui, my father. He was looking directly at me, his eyes filled with such concern and worry. Prince seemed to have not even acknowledged his presence- he was too busy watching White Knight with a very annoyed expression.  _D-Did he come to watch my battle? Or did he come for Prince..._ The question clawed at my mind painfully, as I was truly unsure what the answer was. I felt my jaw tighten increasingly, my teeth starting to grit watching the scene that most people wouldn't blink an eye at. I felt two things towards Prince- anger for the pain he had caused for my parents, and now jealousy of the attention he got from my father. Attention that he didn't  _deserve_.

In a blind fury I charged at White Knight, who was still too busy failing at impressing his Overlord.  _ **"Xing Tian's**   **Wrath!"**_ I screamed, feeling a surge of energy in my body.  _Xian Tian's Wrath_ was a special skill that raised one's attack and stamina when health was lower than 50% on top of its attack combo, and could only be learned by warriors that took the Revelations of the Yellow Mountain quest.  _If we're going to play around with our special attacks, let me show you mine!_

White Knight turned around just in time to make the execution of the attack a flawless one. I impaled him in the left side of his chest, and then again in his right side, hitting major arteries and his heart. The attack finishes with a stab to the stomach and slash at the neck for a chance of beheading the target. As I thought, White Knight was too much in a daze to dodge so his head came off cleanly. His body crumpled as his head hit the floor, but only for a brief moment as he went up in a pillar of light. The end result of the attack was White Knight ceasing to exist and me covered in blood, which was the very reason I hated using that attack.  _It's way too brutal and gory for my taste, but this was an extreme situation..._  I fell to my knees, absolutely exhausted from the side effect of the skill if successfully completed through. Because the attack is a potential one hit kill, if the attack is completed the user does not regenerate stamina or mana for the next 12 hours. With beheading such a low success rate, this prevents it from being overpowered and abused.

**Yi Min wins!** Was announced loudly through the speakers, people were screaming and chanting my name. I looked over at the platform to find Prince looking at me with interest and my father beaming with happiness. That was a sight enough for me to relax, which caused me to fall face first into the ground and black out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xing Tian: Xing Tian is a deity from Chinese mythology who's head was cut off by the Yellow Emperor. But he didn't die from his beheading, and instead used his nipples for eyes and his bellybutton for a mouth (I'm completely serious, guys.). Check out wikipedia for more info.


	18. Chapter 15

I woke up staring at a ceiling covered in dark gray stone and a familiar chubby cheeked boy at my side, who beamed when he noticed I was now awake. "About time!" Zhi exclaimed, "We can't keep these lunatics out much longer, so we're going to have to let you be tortured a few minutes so they'll go away."

"Wha..." His comment left me more confused than I originally was when I first opened my eyes. I saw him make a gesture to the other end of my bed, and I heard the door open. I sat up from my bed only to be greeted by at least twenty strangers, all with microphones and tablets in their hands. The noise level went from silence to a loud, unintelligent gibberish in an instant. I stared wide eyed, barely making out bits and pieces when I tried to hone in on a single voice.

"Yi Min, how did you feel when you saw His Highness?" One man asked.

"Is your relationship with Gui a contributing factor to today's match?" Another reporter questioned.

"Do you-"

"Princ-"

_**"SILENCCCEEE!"**_ A man roared, causing the room to become quiet. Everyone turned around to the towering and furry individual standing behind them, his arms crossed over his chest. This person was of the beast race, and in priest attire which was an unusual choice of class for that race. But everyone in the room knew who this man was, for he was Odd Squad's very own Ugly Wolf! "Regardless of who is admitted here, this is a hospital not a media room and will be treated as such!" He said sternly. He then nodded towards me, letting me know I had the right to speak.

I quickly decided that letting a mob of reporters interrogate me was not a smart idea, but I couldn't just ignore the situation either as they would just keep harassing me till they got their answers. "I am not in the condition to be able to be interviewed by twenty different people, but instead I will pick one reporter for an 'exclusive' interview." I declared, considering this as the best compromise. However it riled them up again, with everyone shouting for them to be chosen. There was one though that remained quiet, one individual that was patiently waiting in the back of the room as if she knew I would pick her. And when I locked eyes with her, of course I would- It was Lan Lan, after all. My sister.

I pointed a finger at her, "You! Come here, I'll answer your questions." Everyone in the room turned to look at her, who's face flushed a light pink with all the attention suddenly on her. "You heard me, now everyone else leave!" I demanded as she shuffled forward to my bed. I heard grumblings of disappointment and  _"Of course he'd pick her."_ from the crowd of reporters as they left the room. When the door closed on the last person, only Ugly Wolf, Zhi, Lan Lan and I remained. "What are you doing here, Lan-jiejie? I didn't know you played the game!" I asked in amazement of seeing my older sister again.

Lan Lan gave me a warm smile that was identical to our father's, whom she took after in appearance. "Well I already heard that you know who Dad and Shui-yima is in this game, so I guess it's fair to let you know they asked me to help out when it comes to handling the media for this event."

_So she knew that before I did... Which means she probably knows everything I don't know._ Frustration starting to build up at this realization, but I knew it would be useless to get angry with her. _She's probably in the same circumstance as Dad is, if not in a more difficult one. I just have to trust that the reason they've withheld all this information is for a good reason._  "Makes sense, after all you're a journalist in real life. And before I start answering questions, can someone tell me how exactly I got here?" I asked, after all the last thing I remembered was seeing my father and Prince looking at me.

Ugly Wolf was the one to answer, "When you blacked out your father had guards take you the the arena's infirmary, which I run during the tournament. Even if I didn't, I don't think he would let anyone touch you but me, anyway." Ugly Wolf gave a chuckle at the last bit. I was startled at first that Ugly Wolf knew Gui was my dad, but then I realized how silly I was.  _Of course he would know, he's part of the Odd Squad too. Surely his own team would know about his personal life after all these years._ I paused a moment as something clicked in my brain,  _...Which would include Prince, as well._

"That sounds about right for Dad." I replied, to which I then switched my attention to my sister who was sitting in a chair next to my bed. "So what did you want to ask me for an interview? Which is kind of weird to think about, since we're siblings after all."

Lan Lan giggled, "Can't be helped when your little brother becomes the so-called 'Dark Prince' of  _Life 2.0_. Which by the way, you have completely sealed that title to you with your last match."

I felt a deep frown develop on my face as I remembered the gruesome finishing move I unleashed on White Knight. I looked down to see his blood still caked on my armor and hands. "I really had no intention of using that move, it was a last resort. I couldn't stand the-" I stopped myself from finishing the sentence.  _The sight of Dad with Prince._ Was what I was going to say, but I felt it was probably not wise to reveal this to my sister. After all she was a reporter too, and since this was an interview she would be obligated to release something like this to the media. "...The thought of losing so early in the tournament, and to a guy like that as well."

She nodded, the stylus in her right hand twitching furiously as she wrote down on her tablet. "Yeah, I can understand that completely. I saw the match, he was a bit... Over the top. Which leads me to another question, and I'm sorry I have to ask you this. Did Dad being there have an influence on how you performed today?" I could tell she really didn't want to ask this, but was forced to by more than likely her superiors at the company she worked at. My question however, was why would she have to ask something like that?  _Unless- Shit, they saw us!_

"Sis... Does this question have anything with when I met Dad here?" I asked warily, afraid of her answer.

She bit her lip as she looked at me, something she always did when she was uncomfortable or thinking deeply. But instead of her, Zhi spoke up. "Yes, it does. I think it's fair enough to show you what the media has been going on about since last night." With that he told the system to show  _Life 2.0_ _'_ s news page. On the news page was different types of subjects, and he picked the _Celebrity_ tab which in itself made my heart sink to my stomach. And when it loaded up, my heart was threatening to leave my body when I saw the headlines.  ** _Gui's new beau!?_** and  _ **Prince claims "No interest" in Gui's private affairs with Yi**   **Min!**  _Photos of Dad consoling me the other night and Prince's cold glare were featured respectively with each article.

"Oh my... Oh Buddha save me..." I whimpered as I looked at the articles.

"Yeah, apparently a reporter caught you with your dad in a uh... Tender moment. Which of course they took it really far, and in the wrong direction at that." Zhi said, his face showing an absolute loss of what to say next.

I turned to face my sister, who was still waiting for an official response to her question. I hastily exclaimed, "No comment!"


	19. Chapter 16

_"The Dark Prince won another round in the Battle Tournament last night, entering him into the final sixteen. Originally unknown before his entry into the tournament, Yi Min's fame has risen to levels comparable to the Odd Squad and their leader who orchestrated this event, Prince of Infinite City. The last four rounds of the tournament will rotate between the major cities of the Central Continent, with the finals taking place in Infinite City's_   _arena..._ " My sister explained through the screen of my TV, who acted as the media representative for the tournament. Bored, I turned off the TV to which Hong Peng looked at me in surprise. "Hey, I was listening!" He exclaimed.

"It's not like we don't already know this, though. That's why we traveled to Star City last night." I replied, rolling my eyes as Hong Peng gave me a pout.  _He really does act like a kid sometimes, even with a face like that!_ Hong Peng was over at my house since it was Saturday, so neither of us had classes nor did we really have any homework as it was the first week of school. My house was also a good place for Hong Peng to hide out from the media- with my increasing fame since the match with White Knight as well as the whole scandal with my dad and I being seen together, reporters quickly tracked down Zhi Sano's real identity. In fact, my matches after White Knight weren't even really fights. After White Knight was a girl who as soon as she entered the field clung to me and confessed her undying love to me. Not being one who believes in love at first sight, I finished her quickly and humanely by snapping her neck.  _After all, it would be disrespectful to a lady to mess up her clothes with her blood._

As for battle four and five, they didn't even show up! Apparently they forfeited after they realized they were going to face me, and I have a feeling killing that girl didn't help my cause there.  _Oh well, I get more time to train for the battles where someone will face me._ Suddenly, I heard my mother call from the kitchen. "Do you boys want a snack before Hong Peng leaves?" Why does she even bother to ask? She knows neither of us could reject her amazing cooking. We immediately jumped from the couch and ran to the kitchen narrowly dodging Kenshin who was walking out of the kitchen with clean blankets from the laundry room.

As we munched on our candied crabapples, my mother asked, "Feng Wen, are you going to bed early tonight?"

I looked at her questionably, and swallowed my mouthful before I answered. "Hm, yes I am. I got another match in the game tonight, did Dad tell you?"

She turned her back to me as she started cleaning up the counter. "Well, you could say that's one way I know. I see and hear about the battles from other places too."

Hong Peng all of the sudden had a coughing fit, apparently from swallowing the wrong way. After assuring us he was okay, especially from my mother's intense gaze, we were finished with our snacks. Hong Peng slipped on his disguise of a black, curly haired wig and glasses that made his face look a different shape than it was. This was an order to protect my family from the media finding out where Dad or I lived, or worst yet, finding out we lived in the same house. This time I couldn't accompany him to the bus, because anyone seeing me posed a greater risk than if anyone saw Hong Peng. If someone saw Hong Peng and figured out Dad lived here, he could use the excuse he was visiting because of his studies. If they figured out I lived here, though...  _I don't want to imagine that media circus._ When he left it was already eight in the evening, since he waited till night time where they would be less people around. As I went to help mom with the clean up, I overheard Kenshin telling her that uncle Fox needed his help with something sometime next week so he would gone for a day. I was really hoping that he would come over here instead, I hadn't seen uncle Fox since I was six.  _He's always gone for his work and such, I know. But I missed the days where he used to teach me self defense with my hands and weapons. The knowledge has come in handy for the battles._

A little while after Hong Peng left, my dad came home from a meeting at the university. As soon as he got into the door he dropped his briefcase at the side and flopped on the couch, completely exhausted. Curious as he was usually not so worn out by these meetings, I sat next to him. "Something wrong, Dad?"

He looked at me, with an expression of... Pity? "Be so thankful there was a holiday on Wednesday, and you haven't gone to school since then."

The memory of seeing those headlines after the match with White Knight flashed in my mind, as well as the constant coverage on TV about my battles. "W-Why? What happened at the meeting, Dad?" I asked nervously, afraid of his answer.

Dad sighed, "The meeting was about you, son. We are going to have to increase security even more because of your fame, especially after..." My dad's face flushed pink.

"After that picture was released to the media?" I asked.

Dad nodded, "We're going to have to have you use the transporter directly into the school now, instead of driving with me. It's too risky for us to be seen together like that; I was barely able to convince them to keep you in my class instead of transferring you to someone else's."

"But Dad, that's so wasteful! Using the transporter involves a lot of nuclear energy and electricity for one!" I rebuked, the idea of wasting all those resources all because of me and the paparazzi was ridiculous.

Dad threw up a hand to stop me from talking. "As someone who has had to deal with this before... This is the best thing, trust me. When Odd Squad was at the height of their popularity, getting to my classes to teach was very stressful, and after I got permission to use the transporter it made it a lot easier."

"I'm still very thankful you did everyday, though." I heard my mother say, turning my head to find her directly behind me and the couch. Her hair was down now, a sign that she was finished with all the housework. She walked over to my father, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I know I was a difficult student, I hope you have forgiven me after all these years."

Dad looked up at her, his standard goofy grin in full play. "I think you made it up to me with all the loving care you gave me after... after the accident." Dad glanced at me, and then gave her a kiss back.  _Ugh Mom, Dad why do you always have to do this in front of me?_   _I have no interest watching my parents be lovey dovey._  I thought to myself. I told my parents goodnight, and head off to my room recollecting a few minutes ago. I didn't think about it often, but my family really had an interesting past, especially with learning who my uncle, my aunt, and my dad were in the game. The story my mom and dad always told me about how they met was through the school that I in fact go to and Dad still teaches at. Dad was a new professor, and Mom was one of his first students along with my uncle, who is her twin. Even though they were seven years apart, and Mom being his student, they fell in love. Dad then had his accident, which sent him into a coma for a time and caused so much damage he has huge scars crawling over his entire torso. They never told me the details of what happened, they just told me the injuries Dad suffered and how long it took to rehabilitate him.

I shook my head, trying to dispel such somber thoughts as I climbed into bed and put my headset on.  _Get your head in the game, Feng Wen. You only have four more battles to go, and you will get your answers. Your answers on the history of Second Life, the incident that killed it at the height of its popularity. And more importantly, Prince is going to tell you his role in its downfall, as well as what happened between Mom, Dad and him._

My fist tightened with my last thought before I drifted into the black.  _No matter what._


	20. Chapter 20

The _first of the last four battles._ I breathed deeply as I closed my eyes, trying to soothe my anxious heart. No matter how far I have come or battles I have done, every moment before I enter the gates is one full of nerves. While I may appear, or heck even become calm as I am showered in cheers from the crowd, there is always a tiny bit of worry somewhere in the back of my mind. A worry about failure- to never make it to Prince.

Sunshine glared in my eyes as I looked towards my opponent's gate. An older appearing man walked out, unusual in this time or even this place where you can choose to never age. His overall look reminded me of someone trying to live out their dream as a wandering swordsman, torn cloak and rugged brown boots completing the outfit. As I expected, I noticed the giant claymore he carried on his back to compliment the ensemble. The older man bowed to me, and looked me directly in the eye. "My name is Mirage. It is an honor to cross swords with you, Dark Prince."

While typically I snap at people not to call me that, with that being kind of a sensitive area with me, the amount of respect in the older man's words stopped me. In fact, for the first time I felt flustered by someone calling me that, as if that was a title of glory and to be carried with pride. Even more, I actually knew who this guy was. I wasn't the only favorite in the tournament; Mirage was a name of another famous swordsman that was known for many things-his swordmanship, unusual speed, and his weapon itself. Mirage's claymore was a rare growing type, like Prince's black dao, that gained levels with its owner. What most didn't realize though, is that claymore's level was not reduced like the owner's was in the tournament. So while Mirage himself was level fifty, his claymore was level ninety-two, powerful enough that one hit would kill me instantly because of my low stamina.

_Finally an opponent who seems to be normal!_  I bowed in return, "No, for it is I who am honored to battle such a worthy opponent."

Even though this was Star City, Prince was presiding all matches in the tournament at this point. Instead of his polished marble throne he sat on at Infinite City's arena, it was an engraved, polished oak throne to compliment Star City's Italian Renaissance theme. Even the arena we fought in was modeled after Italy's famous Colosseum. As you can imagine, Zhi was about to pass out from joy when we first arrived in Star City, as he was a lover of anything Medieval or of the Renaissance.

"Contestants, are you ready?" Prince asked as usual, looking tired and bored. My match was the last of the day, and you can tell from Prince's expression he was glad the day was almost over. In fact, I doubt he even knew who was fighting at this point, as even from my position I could tell his eyes were dull compared to the intense gaze that always invoked deja-vu on me. Mirage and I both replied we were ready, which seemed to have gotten Prince out of his stupor as he looked at us with renewed interest. "Then... Let it begin!" He roared, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

It all happened so quick, that everything is a blur to me now. As soon as the last word left Prince's mouth, I sprinted towards Mirage, our swords clashing as we met midway. I don't normally considering fighting fun, but battling Mirage was different. He was obviously on my skill level, and his style I had to constantly move around to avoid being hit. It was like I was dancing with his sword, with one wrong move would result being sent to the rebirth point. His blows were so strong too, and I started to feel fatigued quickly as I tried to hold my ground against him.

My mind blanked out for just a second, which left me uncoordinated. His blade was coming to cut me clean across from my right shoulder to my left hip, a move I dodged at last second by taking a step back and moving to the right. I used this move to slash at his sword arm, which barely decreased his health.  _Better a little damage than no damage at all, though._ Mirage backed up and attempted a horizontal cut at my waist, which I promptly countered blocked halfway through the swing. With each strike I felt myself being pushed back more and more; becoming purely defensive as his blows became stronger and harder to block. I felt the terrain under my feet change from impacted, hard dirt to loose sand that caused my footing to weaver slightly. Mirage noticed, and took advantaged of the moment to push me back even further.

_Loose sand means we're getting near the edge of the Colosseum, but why are we that far out? Unless..._ With the crank of the proverbial gears starting to turn in my head, I realized this was all planned from the start.  _I remember now, Mirage is known for a skill called Pressure Point! It targets a pressure point on the opponent's body and pierces it, crippling the individual. But it requires a non-moving target, and what better way to stop an agile opponent then by pinning them in a corner or up against a_   _wall?_

"Immovable Fortress!" I yelled, triggering a buff* that increased stamina and strength by a small amount. While it wasn't anything that could save me from even one hit of his claymore, it was enough for me to begin standing my ground as he continued to bombard me with strikes.  _If I'm going to get out of this situation, I need to take the offensive and start pushing him back... Which means I need to get in close so I can hit him, but he has difficulty hitting me because of the length of his sword. But how?_

He swung downward at me, which sparked a crazy idea. I blocked the sword with the edge of my blade, then quickly slide my short sword upward so his was caught in the crook of my blade and hand guard. Mirage was taken by surprised, making it easy to twist and thrust the claymore down to the right. With both his hands and sword angled away from me, I did probably the craziest thing yet by just running up and punching Mirage in the face with my left fist.  _Hey, if it worked for that guy in my first match with me, surely it can work here!_ _  
_

While my punch didn't have as much impact as when Undying Retribution did to me because Mirage's high stamina, it did make him stagger. Now that I was close in, I started to relentlessly attack at Mirage; landing a shallow uppercut to the chest before he awkwardly blocked each hit following just in time. Because I was so close to him, his ability to even strike was greatly diminished because of the sword's length. I began to push him back first, because keeping away from that wall was the top priority to buy me some time in the event he might start pushing me back again.

With some small steps and huge lunges, we were finally quite a while from the wall. But I had another problem now- He had somehow increased the distance between us. Before I was right up on him, to the point I could feel his breath and see the sweat that dripped down his forehead. Now I was at the point that my sword could make shallow gashes in him if I could land a hit on him. I swallowed the slowly rising panic I felt as the distance only got bigger.  _I better think of something crazy to cut away at this gap- I must be absolutely insane, today._ Not giving a second thought to the risk I was about to take, I waited for the moment. It was not too long till it happened- Mirage went for an attack similar to an earlier one, a downward slash that would hit me from my left shoulder to my right hip. I quickly moved my sword over my left shoulder to block it, and then took that risk. I grabbed the claymore by the blade with my left hand, sending it slicing into my palm. I then pulled back on it as hard as I can, using it as leverage to propel myself forward.

Mirage, taken by surprise once more, was sent with his sword straight towards me. In one swift motion, I threw my arm back and thrust my sword straight into his chest, hitting him in the heart. The force of motion between us caused the sword to go through him easily, and his body collided with mine. The Colosseum went silent as they saw us just standing in the middle of the arena- Mirage slumped over my shoulder, with half of the end of my sword sticking out of his back; and I, starting to shake violently from the HP I was losing rapidly from my heavily bleeding hand clinging to Mirage's claymore.  _Come on, please... Just die already..._  I pleaded in my mind as I saw my HP bar with only a fourth of my life remaining.

"Such... odd moves..." Mirage coughed out, and then vanished in a beam of life. I collapsed onto my back from the sudden lack of weight, and I heard the Colosseum explode with noise. I heard them shout over the intercom my victory as I regained the strength to stand back up and walked back to my gate.  _Glad I was wrong about how strong that claymore was, or I would have died half way through that crazy stunt._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buff: A gaming term for a passive skill or spell that helps the target for a limited amount of time. Another example of this would be a priest using a blessing on you.


	21. Chapter 18

I gingerly opened my eyelids, going from a dimly lit inn in Moon City that Zhi and I found to my sunshine-filled room in real life. I grimace at my alarm clock, slamming my hand down on it to silence it. It was set to nine A.M, but only for the weekdays because of school. Sighing, I flopped back down and put my hands under the helmet's visor to rub my eyes.  _I'm glad that they didn't do any matches on Sunday, so it made time go slower. I love learning but... They know I'm there..._  They referring to the paparazzi, the media and in general the public.

Knowing I couldn't waste another ten minutes, lest my mother come in and get me (That's the last thing I want!), I reluctantly rolled out of bed. I had never given as much thought or time into what I wear than I did this morning, because blending in had become an absolute essential at this point from how Dad made it sound. In the end I went with just a plain old t-shirt and jeans, with a jacket and baseball cap to hide my features a bit.  _It's not like I can go into school wearing a full on disguise, otherwise I'm just going to look ridiculous when the professor asks who I am!_

I stayed later than Dad did after breakfast, since he was driving to work while I had to use the transporter. Before he left, he gave me a reassuring hug and kiss on the head. "It'll be alright, Feng Wen. After the tournament things should die down, and we won't have to do this anymore." He told me, which helped my anxiety a bit. But I wasn't really worried about myself, it was Dad and Hong Peng.  _Hong Peng has been found out, and I have no idea how we are going to have to act at school. Is he going to wear a disguise? Should we just pretend to ignore each other so we don't attract attention? And Dad... He definitely can't pretend who he is. He's a professor, everyone is going to know who he is as soon as he walks into his classroom. And then there's that stupid rumor going around..._ I sighed at the thought of what I was going to meet today.

I went to get my backpack from the living room since I was biding my time in the kitchen with Mom. I turned around to find Mom had followed me, carrying a paper bag in her hand. "Are you ready?" She asked me.

I stared blankly at her for a second, having been slammed with a weird feeling.  _Does she say that all the time? Why does it sound so familiar?_ "Ah, yeah." I replied.

"Hong Peng mentioned to me that you had forgotten lunch last time you went to school, so I made you one. But don't take advantage of my charity, now!" She jokingly warned me, placing the bag in my hand.

The weird feeling didn't leave me, "Oh, thanks Mom! But I don't even remember Hong Peng saying anything about when he's been over..."

My mom froze up, our eyes completely locked. Then she looked down at the lunch bag in my hands, opening up to look inside of it. "Oh! I meant he mentioned it to your father, who told me about it. You know how your dad gets when it comes to you, he would have given you enough money for a five course meal that day if he had known!" She laughed, looking back up to smile at me. "Looks like I packed everything! You better get going, it's going to be harder to get to class with all the media and security there!"

My curiosity about when Hong Peng could have told Dad about it was dropped when Mom mentioned the media. "Oh crap, you're right! Love you, Mom! See you later!" I called as I left through the garage door, where the transporter was located. I slipped my backpack over my shoulder and adjusted my cap as the transporter loaded up.

One moment I was looking at the inside of my garage, the next I was looking at a huge crowd of people milling around the main hallway of the school. There was more than one transporter in the hallways since there were people from far away areas, heck other countries even attending XX University. Because of this I slipped into the crowd fairly easy, but something felt different as I walked through it than the last time I came to school. The first being the crowd was obviously bigger, the hallways having become even more congested. The next was the items some individuals were holding- Items that obviously belonged to reporters. I held my head down as low as I could, staring intently at my shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world. _Please... Please don't see me..._

I made it to my Computer Science's class early, sitting down immediately and staring at the table. I didn't dare look up the entire time except to look at Professor Wing, who simply nodded at me with an expression of sympathy.  _Looks like he got the memo, which means he knows who I am and who I'm related to. It's good to know I'm not alone on that secret in this classroom._ I felt a little comfort in the thought, and relaxed a little more when Professor Wing did not do roll call, which would be the equivalent of painting a red target on my back. But even though he did his best to play me down, it was hard to when everyone had already seen my face and remembered my name. The entire time I felt eyes burrowing into my back, making it impossible to focus.

As soon as Professor Wing said class was dismissed, I was the first one out the door. A moment of relief came and went as I entered the hallway, because then I remember my next class.  _Dad's class is next... If Computer Science was bad, I don't want to even imagine-_ My thoughts were cut off as I turned the corner to the hallway with Dad's classroom. I could not move forward normally because of the sheer amount of  _people_ standing shoulder to shoulder. I ducked my head down immediately, and started to push my way through the crowd murmuring in as low as a voice I could muster some form of an apology.  _Not like they really deserve it, though._

I saw a couple of my classmates who were wading through the crowd as, and took advantage of their presence. Instead of going alone through a crowd of reporters and crazed fans, I would have a group of individuals to blend into. We reached the door where there were two security guards posted, checking student IDs to confirm they were actually attending that class to prevent actual class time being disturbed.  _Shit, Dad didn't warn me about this. If I show my student ID to them, someone else could see it too!_  "I need to see your ID, young man." The guard said when I got up to the door.

"Uhm, well..." I stuttered, unsure what to do.

"Sir, we are going to need your student ID otherwise we will be asking you to leave the premise." the guard said, much more stern than the last time. I noticed that the crowd was thinning as officers started to escort known reporters towards the exit. It was still a crowd though, a crowd full of hungering journalists waiting for even the slightest rumor about me. I weighed my options between being thrown out or risk someone seeing my ID, and decided it was no use. I started to dig around in my backpack, my hand becoming sweaty as I searched for my ID card.

"That won't be necessary, officer. I can confirm that this is one of my students." I looked to see the door was slightly ajar, my father's face peeking out of it. The hallway exploded with noise at the sight of Dad, and I quickly rushed inside as Dad closed the door behind me.  _Too close._ I looked to where my seat was, only to find it half hidden as my classmates were swarming around the one next to it, Hong Peng's.

"So are you guys excited about tonight's match?" One of my classmates asked.

"I heard Yi Min is really handsome in real life too, I can't wait to see!" Asked one of the girls, a hint of drool in the corner of her mouth.

"How do you feel about his relationship with... You know..." Said one of the guys softly, stealing glances at his professor.

Hong Peng remained quiet, his eyes intently on the book in front of him. I was amazed anyone actually believed that he was actually Zhi Sano, with such a contrast between their appearance and demeanor. Of course Hong Peng's demeanor was only like that in public, his real personality, the one he shows as Zhi Sano, appeared in the company of trusted friends. When Dad locked the door behind him, everyone turned to look with the exception of Hong Peng- Who merely shifted his gaze in my direction. They all stared at me, their eyes threatening to pop out. I quickly and quietly walked around the group and sat down in my seat, anticipating the worst.  _They know, they obviously know now. How could they not know?_

I heard Dad clear his throat loudly, but continued to look down. "Now that we are all here, let us take our seats and begin today's lecture!" He announced, as if nothing unusual was going on in the slightest. People grumbled as they took their seats, with a few girls glaring daggers at him. He ignored their threatening looks and started his lesson. I looked over at Hong Peng, who's nose was still buried in his copy of  _The Canterbury Tales_.* He too looked back, and gave a slight nod.  _I guess that's "Hello"._ I figured, and nodded back.

Unlike last time, I felt gazes being constantly being shifted between Hong Peng, my dad and I- Usually just between Dad and I, though. This was confirmed when I got comfortable enough to look up at the board, because I needed to take at least some notes, and one of my male classmates caught me. He looked at me, then at my dad, then back to me with a raised brow and lewd smirk. After that I didn't look up again, resigning to having to get some from Dad when we got home. Dad didn't help any, either. I could tell he knew not to look directly at me, but couldn't help but look at me a couple times to see if I was okay. And every time some girl would giggle, obviously drawing attention to the action.

Class seemed to drag on for an eternity, but when he finally announced that class was done it I felt as though I had been blessed by Buddha himself. I didn't even bother to pack up what I had taken out of my backpack, I just grabbed it all and rushed to the door. The hallway was cleared out for the most part, except for the few stragglers you always saw that were late to their classes. I heard someone close behind and I worriedly looked behind me, to my relief it was only Hong Peng. I slowed slightly allowing him to catch up beside me, which wasn't hard because of his long legs. "So, how are you holding up?" He asked.

"By a thread, really. I basically learned nothing in either class, today. I felt pairs of eyes all over me..." I shuddered as I remembered the worst incidents.

"Same here. You'd think it wouldn't be as bad for me because I'm only considered 'the sidekick' by the media, but they are extremely persistent. Still, it's always 'Yi Min this' and 'Yi Min that'." He grumbled, a visible frown on his face.

"I'm sorry... If I had known it was going to be like this..." I trailed off, feeling guilty making so much trouble just because he knows me. Then he whacked me on the back of head, giving me a throbbing headache. "What was that for!?"

"For being sorry. Don't be stupid, there's no reason to be sorry for something that was out of your control in the first place!" He reprimanded, pursing his lips. We had reached the transporters at this point, and remained standing for a moment. "I'll see you on tonight, okay? Don't be thinking about this stuff, focus on the match instead."

I smirked, and walked into my transporter. "Alright, alright. I'll see you in Moon City!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories by Geoffrey Chaucer that was written at the end of the 14th century.


	22. Chapter 19: Part 1

I stood waiting for my opponent in the oriental themed stadium of Moon City. It had been ten minutes since the match was supposed to have started, and if they didn't arrive in the next five then I would be automatically declared the winner. I looked up to see Prince draped over a replica of the Dragon Throne, boredom and impatience all over his face. I couldn't help but share the same feeling as I started idly twirling my sword.  _While the person not showing up would make things easier, I've actually been enjoying fighting now..._

When there was less than a minute left, the gates on the other side suddenly slammed opened. A frazzled young man appeared, his entire being in complete disarray. His hair was messed up as well as his armor, and he was putting his sword back into its scabbard as he walked out onto the floor. He looked like your average run of the mill guy in every way possible, he could blend into a crowd and you would never realize he was there. "S-Sorry I was late!" He stuttered nervously towards Prince, who merely raised one of his eyebrows.

"Doe Runner, Yi Min are you both ready?" He asked blandly, looking over at my opponent and then back to me. The crowd's murmur seemed to have grown louder as our eyes locked, which I attempted to silently communicate my distaste for him.  _Two more matches after this you'll be off throne and on my level, Blood Elf._ However he continued to stare at me questionably, so I simply just nodded. With that, Prince announced the start of the battle and I rushed forward.

To test the waters, I did a horizontal slash to his chest since it would be the easiest target to hit. The guy fumbled a bit but blocked it with a solid stance, and then blocked again when I tried a diagonal cut from his shoulder to his hip. Then he tried to strike me, which I easily blocked as well. He continued with a barrage of strikes, but something felt off as I dodged or blocked each one.  _It's like he is going for shallow attacks, not for ones that would actual deal decent damage. Is he trying to wear me down?_

But as I continued to dance around his blade, with the occasional need to block here and there, I realized this as well didn't make sense as I took notice of his sword, which was your average cutlass.  _That type of weapon isn't made for speed at all, since it naturally slows down the user with its weight compared to my short sword. So shallow, but fast blows would be illogical with that kind of sword._  I parried another shallow slash, and attempted another slash to the stomach. Unfortunately, even though I did some decent damage by leaving a large gash on him he nicked me in my arm.  _Thankfully it's just a scratch._

I realized within a few seconds something was horribly wrong, though. I felt my arms and legs get as heavy as stone, and I broke out in a cold sweat. I tried to keep attacking, but with every swing the sword felt more and more like a giant weight. And with each attempt, Doe Runner blocked with ease- A grin growing bigger with each block.

Finally it was too much to bear, and I fell to my knees. The sun seemed to be getting brighter and brighter as I got colder, my entire body drenched in sweat now. I was wheezing, and felt completely paralyzed as there was no energy in me to even move to turn my head. I heard Doe Runner walk towards me, and I felt a sharp kick to my chest, knocking out any air I had left in my lungs. He did it again, and then he pushed me onto my back as he proceeded to punch me repeatedly in the face.

I felt blood trickle down my chin from my mouth, and the loss of my hearing as whatever was going on grew steadily worse and worse. Finally I felt something pierce my ribcage, ripping through my heart as it was jerked around inside of me. I didn't feel anything after that, I only saw a blinding light, and found myself at the closest rebirth point in Moon City.

_I... I lost..._


	23. Chapter 19: Part 2

**Zhi Sano's PoV**

I knew something was off about that guy. The way he came in late, disheveled and anxious. Or with his fighting style, which was awkward-looking and illogical (And I'm a priest, for goodness' sakes!). But I still wasn't prepared for what was going to happen, because for one it was  _completely against the rules._

I had left my seat to go grab a snack of something tasty, coming back with a whole bag of spring rolls to munch on. When I came back in range of Yi Min, since the concessions were on the other side of the stadium, the party system which shows your party's health stats popped back up. That's when I noticed his health bar flashing like crazy, and the letter  _P_ over his health bar- the symbol for poison. Poison was outright forbidden in the tournament, and was typically taken care of by the system by removing access to the consumable inventory while inside any of the arenas as well as removing any consumable effects from any part of the person's body.

In a panic, I dropped my spring rolls and rushed to the edge of one of the balconies. Any doubt in my mind was confirmed as I saw my buddy was swinging his sword like it had gained two hundred pounds. Yi Min fell to his knees suddenly, his eyes barely open and his body visibly trembling even from my position. I looked over to Prince, who at this point had become visibly worried as well. However it seemed he hadn't figured out what was happening, since I was the only one who could see Yi Min's health bar.

_"Prince, hurry, stop the match! That guy is using poison!"_  I PM'd immediately, hoping he'd notice in time.

My prayer was answered when his head twisted suddenly in my direction, eyes full of urgency.  _"Are you absolutely certain? That's not even supposed to be possible, the system does that automatically!"_  
  
Yi Min was now being pummeled in the face by the cheater's fists.  _"YES! I'll take a screenshot to prove it, just stop the match!"_ I screamed into my PM. But Prince reacted too late, as soon as he stood up and screamed the guy sent his cutlass right into Yi Min's chest. Yi's body went up in a flash a light, and all there was is Doe Runner with his cutlass stuck in the ground- where my buddy's body was a second before. I couldn't help but cry out in anguish, " _ **YOU**_ _ **BASTARD!**_ "

The tension in the arena was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Some spectators were speechless, others were quivering in fear at the sight of Prince's reaction. As for everyone else (which was basically women), I heard sobs and whimpers from them. Prince stood with an aura of absolute power, no one could dare say he was not the Blood Elf in this situation. His eyes blazed with fury as he pointed right at the guy, "Guards, seize him!"

Doe Runner's expression betrayed him- He knew he had been found out. He bolted for the gates immediately, which was stupid because there were guards at the gate. They tackled him to the ground, and held him down. Prince then did something quite unexpected, and jumped down from his place onto the floor (That's a good fifteen meters, guys.) He whipped out his famous Black Dao, one of the most feared weapons of all time. Doe Runner wiggled and squirmed with all his might to escape the guards holding him as Prince casually walked closer to him.

"My dear citizens, it is with a sad heart I reveal to you that this man has broken a rule of the tournament, and unfairly killed his opponent!" Prince bellowed, stopping a few feet away from Doe Runner. A collective gasp was heard from the crowd at this revelation, which Prince ignored. He ran his fingers against the back of his Dao as he spoke. "He cheated the system and poisoned his fellow warrior, Yi Min! Dishonorable in every way and form for a warrior!"

The crowd started to rile up with anger, with some individuals yelling out obscenities. Prince looked up at the crowd, and spread his arms open above him. "And what do we do with cheaters? Do we let them just get away with their wrongdoing?"

"No!" The crowd began to chant, growing louder with each one.

Prince showed a his famous sadistic smile, and turned to face Doe Runner. "No... No we don't. And because of this, not only will you face the same fate as your fellow man, but you are hereby blacklisted from the Central Continent!" Then Prince took his Dao and plunged it into Doe Runner's chest, and ripped his torso in two - his blood covering Prince and the two guards holding him. One of the guards visibly gagged at the amount of blood and gore, but Prince just smiled. "Since Doe Runner is disqualified, Yi Min is the official winner of this match and will continue on to the semi-finals!"

Prince then turned to exit the field, the crowd cheering his name and Yi Min's, the excitement of the possibility of them battling high in the air. I received a PM, and opened it to find it was from Prince.  _"No one plays dirty with my son."_


	24. Chapter 24

As soon as I opened my eyes to my bedroom ceiling, I jerked my headset off and threw it against the wall. I turned to look at my alarm clock, which read six in the morning. I knew for a fact I wasn't going back into the game, I just couldn't bear the idea of it. And to make matters worse, I had school today.  _I don't want to deal with the damn media circus that this will turn out to be..._

I had managed to doze off till my alarm went off at the usual nine, but I refused to remove my face from my pillow. I didn't even care when I heard mom open the door at ten after, which would typically send me blazing off the bed and into the shower to get ready for the day. Instead of the usual attack by spatula or whatever kitchen utensil she had in her hand, she walked in quietly and knelt next to my bed. "Feng Wen, honey... are you okay?" She asked gently.

I turned my head to face the soft expression she always had when I needed comfort as a small child, like whenever Meatbun tackled me so hard it hurt. And while I felt the comfort, it was overpowered by the amount of confusion I had. "Well... no I'm not, actually. I lost in that big tournament in the game I play, so..." I started getting emotional, trying to keep a straight face but failing.

Mom looked absolutely grief stricken, which was not unusual if I was really upset. She would get upset too, and do all she could do to comfort me. "Sweetheart, no! You didn't lose, you won!" She replied, stroking the messy strands of my hair down.

"Mom, come on now... I know it's just a game, but I had my heart set-"

"Feng Wen, he was disqualified! He used poison on you!" She blurted before she covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filled with absolute shock.

I stared at her blankly, my brain having completely stopped working. I sat up, keeping my eyes on her horrified expression the entire time. "How... Do you... Know...?" I trickled out slowly.

"I... I play the game... I was... watching the match." She replied, just as slow.

"Why didn't you ever tell me...? Why don't I see you with Dad?" I asked.

"Because... Because of a lot of things. Like..." She paused a moment, "I thought you wouldn't want your mom bugging you while you were busy on your adventure. And your father is too busy with all his duties with Infinite City, so I let him do all that. And uh... I've been on the Eastern Continent! Yes with... uncle Jun and aunt Jing!"

I narrowed my eyes at her, though it was obvious that she was stretching it somewhere, over all she was telling the truth. "You could have still sent a friend request, Dad did when we met up! And wait, how could someone have seen the match if they were on the Eastern Continent?"

"Uhm, they have been live streaming it for all of _Life 2.0_  to see! And friend requests don't work between continents, so it was impossible!" She looked at the clock, and suddenly shot up straight. "Oh no, we won't have breakfast if I don't go back! Now go get ready, or I'll come back with my spatula!" She chided, and then rushed out of my door. Not wasting a thought on this strange revolution, I bolted out of bed.  _There is no way my backside is meeting a blazing spatula this morning!_

* * *

I knew that as soon as I left the transporter that I shouldn't have gone to school this morning. While it was not as bad as yesterday morning thanks to security actually doing its job, there was still rogue reporters and of course the student body itself to worry about. In my absent-mindedness I had forgotten to properly conceal my face, and thus was hounded by both parties the entire school day. Programming and Physics were a struggle because of constant disruptions (Which I apologized for to Professor Wing after each class.), but I was unable to even see Dad or Hong Peng (because he took Dad's classes.) I knew it would have been a massive storm if I even got in a ten feet range of them.

That being said, it was an okay day and I returned home in a pretty good mood. I did my homework, ate dinner with my family and then jumped on the game as was my daily ritual at this point. When I opened my eyes in the game, I was greeted with a close up of Zhi Sano's face, Hong Peng's adorable child avatar.

"You idiot!" He squeaked loudly, slapping me on the back of the head. In real life, this would have hurt greatly; but since Zhi Sano's strength was a measly three points it was like being gently tapped with a pillow. Nevertheless, I rubbed my head as he reprimanded me further, "Why in the world did you log off as soon as you rebirthed!? What if I wasn't here to meet you? You would have gotten lost trying to get back to me!"

"I was upset! How would you have felt if you had lost something like that?" I replied.

"But you didn't! That's what I was going to tell you if you hadn't logged off! You wo-"

"Yeah, I know. My mom told me already." I said casually.

Zhi's eyeballs looked like they were ready to pop out. "W-what?"

"Yeah, she saw the match. I found out she actually plays the game too!"

Zhi had an astonished face, "So you know who she is...?"

His reaction perplexed me, "Well, no. She said that she can't friend me because we are on different continents." Zhi didn't reply after that outside of a simple nod and a blank stare.

* * *

**Min Xiao Lan's PoV**

As I handed Feng Wen's lunch to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, I was starting to feel guilty for lying to him.  _Then again I didn't really lie... I have been to the Eastern Continent with Jun and Jing, and I am having the matches live streamed to other continents..._  I tried to reason with myself, but the guilt remained.  _He's so close now, why would I go tell him everything now and make everything he's worked for moot?_ I sat down on the couch, lamenting if hiding everything from him was really the wisest decision.  _At the time, it didn't seem like a big deal. He could go explore and have his own adventures trying to find out. But now... He has to worry about the media, which is causing him to have a bad school life..._

As I continued to pity myself, Yang Ming and Lolidragon's door opened. Lolidragon sat down beside me, and watched me for a few minutes before whacking me upside the head. "Hey, can't you see I am in a moment of distress here!?" I yelled at her as I rubbed my head.

"That's great and all, but we have a bigger problem." She said with deadly severity. Whatever it was, for it cause Lolidragon to have that kind of expression was not good. "You obviously remember what happened last night with Feng Wen having been poisoned, right?"

I nodded, the memories of last night flashed by. I started to feel even guiltier as I remembered the defeat he faced.  _How could I have been so stupid not to notice? If I was a bit quicker he wouldn't have had to suffer that..._

"Well, after further investigation there may be a bigger problem." She replied, a flicker of anxiety in her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That was the first time Doe Runner attempted to use poison, apparently he was convinced he was going to lose for sure if he fought Feng Wen on even ground. He got through when the system had a glitch, so the system overlooked him carrying poison and did not take it off." Lolidragon quickly called for the Dictator of Life to appear before she continued, "However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. The system was glitched on purpose, someone had gone into  _Life 2.0_ data bank and started messing around with that particular script; that is the lines of code that creates the function of removing consumables from a contestant."

"So Doe Runner broke into the system just so he could defeat Feng Wen?" I asked, dumbfounded.  _Who would go to that extent just to win in a video game?_

"That was what we originally thought, until we found out two things. One, neither Doe Runner or anyone he knows have any experience with hacking, especially such a high enough level that they went undetected by our firewalls and other security software. Two, Doe Runner explained when we interrogated him that a mystery man offered him the poison right before the match, a poison that we also found out is one of the most lethal in the entire game."

"So that's why Feng Wen went down so fast, I never even knew poisons could be that effective..." I trailed off, my mind swarming with theories.

"That particular poison is  _very_ expensive and could only be made by high-level alchemists or thieves. So whoever that guy was, he was rich and either one of those classes or had friends that were. What is most concerning however, is what happened in the system." Lolidragon then turned to the Dictator of Life, "Would you explain?" She asked him.

"Certainly." He replied, "As Mrs. Feng said earlier, the hacker was able to go through all our security measures undetected. I did not even know he was in the system till after the incident with the poison happened, and he had been gone for quite some time after that. He left no traces, not even an IP signature. So we have no idea who this individual is, or how he even got into the system. So if he decides to do it again, we have no way of preventing it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best to stay within realistic boundaries when it came to computer technicalities, so if there are any computer science majors that are bothered by my terminology, forgive me and drop me a PM to let me know!


	25. Chapter 25

Zhi and I arrived in Sun City by teleportation, unlike our usual mode of travel of walking (which was cheaper and more entertaining.) Sun City was located on the East coast of the Central Continent and the final city of the Battle Tournament before returning to Infinite City for the last match, and then the event everyone was waiting for: the duel with Prince, Overlord of the Central Continent.

The thought of being so close now was causing me to tremble with excitement; I couldn't wait for that moment to arrive. I didn't realize it was so obvious until Zhi said, "hey there, calm down. I know you're excited, but you still need to fight two other people before you can duel with Prince."

"You're right, you're right," I replied. I tried to steady myself, but I couldn't hide my smile at the thought of facing Prince one-on-one, and expressing my feelings for him with my blade. I bid Zhi farewell as usual, walking through the gate and into the stadium. The crowd cheered my name as I took a moment to gather my surroundings. Sun City was themed with Turkish architecture of the Ottoman Empire. I noticed Zhi fawning all over the structure of the arena in his seat. I also looked over at Prince, who seemed much more attentive than in recent matches.  _I wouldn't be attentive either if I had to watch matches all day long like he had been. Now that there's only three left till he duels, he is probably paying attention to their fighting styles._  I was brought back out of my thoughts when the opposing gate opened, with my next opponent. Or at least I thought it was, until I saw a little girl emerge from it.  _Are you kidding me?_ _  
_

She looked only to be about ten, with curly black hair and big brown eyes, vaguely reminding me of the pictures of my sister at that age in our living room. She carried two daggers in her little hands, the blades the length of her forearms. She smiled sweetly at me, "Nice to meet you! I've heard so much about you, the infamous Dark Prince!"

"Ah... Thanks." I replied, unsure as to what to do.  _Is she seriously my opponent? How do they expect me to kill a cute little girl? I'd feel like a monster!_ I couldn't believe myself, but I actually looked at Prince trying to communicate a silent cry of help.  _You don't really expect me to fight her, do you!?_

Interestingly enough, Prince looked back at me with a helpless look that read,  _Sorry kid_ _._

_"Don't underestimate her, Yi!"_ I heard Zhi say in the team channel.  _"Lil' Angel uses her looks to psyche out her opponents by either making them underestimate her or they're unable to bring themselves to strike her!"_

_"What the hell do you expect me to do, actually kill someone that looks like that!?"_ I replied back, gritting my teeth as she continued to give me an adorable grin.

"Contestants, are you ready?" Prince asked us, causing the murmuring crowd to silence. When we both confirmed we were, Prince started the match. Lil' Angel started to hop towards me with that smile still on her face, and I just stood there watching her come towards me.  _What the hell do I do!?_ I panicked in my head, because this was something I was not prepared for at all. When she got close, that cute smile suddenly became twisted, looking sadistic as she slashed at me with both of her daggers in a split second. I blocked in the nick of time, surprised by the sheer force behind them.

She continued her bombardment of strikes, which I was unable to block them all since she had two small weapons, making her speed ridiculously high. I had shallow cuts on my arms and chest, my armor now threatening to come apart, which would leave me with an incredibly low defense. My health was at two-thirds now and while her strikes weren't that strong, I hadn't laid a single finger on her so she had the advantage. What made my situation even more embarrassing than it was already, with my armor threatening to break and being smacked around by a little girl, was that she was actually pushing me around as well. Since she was being purely offensive, I had no choice but to go backwards or whatever direction she was pushing towards just to avoid being hit.

_I just can't bring myself to kill her, every time I look at her I see those pictures of Lan Lan..._ I whimpered in my head, receiving a cut to my hip.  _I'm about to just forfeit- Wait, what if I can make_ her _forfeit?_ The idea rang in my head, the only idea that seemed like it could work.  _If she forfeits, I won't have to kill her. Hell, I may not even have to hurt her that bad._

With new resolve, I waited for a good moment where I could take away one of her daggers. When she did double strike with her daggers, I took the opportunity to knock the left dagger out by ramming my hilt into her hand. The dagger bounced a good ten meters away from her, well out of her grasp. However, I had taken the hit with the right hand, which was the one that caused the most damage out of the two. It ripped right into my armor, exposing part of my torso and the new gash caused by the attack.  _I rationalized that the left hand would be the easiest to knock out, but now I have a critical area exposed..._ _  
_

I anticipated that she would try to thrust at this exposed point, but instead she made another slash attack. I blocked it with ease, not only because there was only one blade to worry about instead of two, but she didn't seemed to be focused. She repeated the same thing again and again- in fact she did it at least four times in a row!  _Why does she keep doing the same thing over and over again!? It's like she's distract- Oh you have got to be kidding me._ It clicked with me, especially when I followed her line of sight.  _I thought she was going to attack to that part **because** she was staring at it so intently!_

This realization formed the final part of my plan to make her forfeit. But it didn't make me feel any less terrible and disgusted by myself for what I was about to do.  _I'm only doing this because she's not playing fair, I will never be a playboy like Prince!_ I rationalized as I put on the best smile I could muster for her. Confirming my suspicion, she stared blankly at me with a slight blush, before she began wailing on me with her dagger with incredible speed.

_Girls react in the strangest ways._ I thought as I dodged most of her attacks, with one or two giving me minor cuts. She kept on going, as if she wasn't going to stop until I was shredded into nothing. She had wilted me down to half of my health bar at this point, and that was the farthest I was going to allow her as I grabbed her right wrist. Her eyes widened and she tried to wrestle her wrist out of my grasp, which only made me tighten my grip more. I ran my thumb smoothly up her wrist, into her palm where she held her dagger. The action, along while looking her straight in the eyes, made her loosen her hold on the blade nearly immediately as it made a  _clink_ sound when it hit the dirt. She didn't even fight back- she was absolutely still, dumbfounded and cheeks red.

"Now..." I began in a gentle voice, bringing my sword to her throat. "I really don't want to hurt you, so would you please surrender?"

"I-I...I..." She stuttered, "No! Let me go, let me go!" She started to pull herself back, away from my sword but more importantly from me, as she looked everywhere but at me.

I pressed my sword into her throat, causing a small cut to form. She remained fixed as I forced her chin upwards so she had to look directly at my face. I moved my face closer to her's, our noses only a couple of inches away. "Please don't do this to me... I can't bring myself to hurt such a cute face." I continued in my gentle tone, though I was unable to hide a deceitful smirk developing. I didn't think her face could get any redder, but I was wrong as it went as bright as a tomato. She even started to sweat and wheeze a little bit.

"O-Okay..." She whispered, so softly even I barely heard her.

"What was that, miss? I didn't hear you." I asked.

**"I give up!"**  She cried, causing the whole stadium to go silent.

"Lil' Angel has forfeited! The winner of this match is Yi Min!" Prince declared, causing the crowd to explode in cheers. As soon as I let go of the girl, she dropped to the ground, her blush still a bright red. Not wanting to mess with her anymore then I already had, I ignored her and walked out of the arena.


	26. Chapter 22

After going through the gate I was in a small waiting room that was standard for all of the arenas, which was where Zhi usually waited for me after the matches. As soon as I saw him, he had his lips pursed into a pout and his arms across his chest. "No fair," He whined when I reached him, "you can even win matches with your looks! And I still can't a girl to take me seriously when I flirt with her!"

"I only did it because I had to! I feel disgusting already, don't make me feel even worse." I replied, the guilt of my actions weighing on my chest.  _No matter how much I try to reason that she had been doing the exact same thing, I still feel terrible._ "I know one thing, I will  _never_ do that again. I would rather lose next time than to do something like that." I pledged to Zhi, and more importantly myself.

"Well let's hope that this little stunt you just did won't have any ill effects, then..." Zhi said softly, his tone serious.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, not understanding his implication.  _Ill effects?_

"Sigh, Feng Wen..." He said in exasperation, "Millions if not  _billions_ of girls just saw what happened, so you're going to be quite frankly hunted down. Honestly you might not even want to go to school, tomorrow."

"What!? I have to go to school! I need to listen to the lectures so I can get good grades!" I exclaimed, disbelief that something as silly as putting on a show could have that kind of reaction. We walked out of the waiting room, only to be met with a mob of countless girls. And worst yet, they all wore that hungry expression I was all too familiar with.

"This is exactly what I was talking about..." Zhi whispered, as if he talked any louder he would be startling a herd of wild animals. "Well, I think I'm logging off now. If I see you tomorrow, don't say I didn't warn you!" He then logged off, which I followed suit immediately after. When I woke up, I went through my usual morning routine. However when I was eating breakfast with my parents, I felt the strong urge to look for guidance from the only person I knew who had dealt with this kind of stuff- Dad.

"Hey Dad... Do you think I should go to school, today...?" I asked shyly, unsure of how he would react.

Both of my parents looked at me with an alarmed expression, and then glanced at each other. "Does this have to do with what happened with your match last night, dear?" My mom asked politely, which made the hairs on my neck stand on end.  _I forgot Mom would know, a-and she's talking in that tone too..._

Praying I wouldn't be spanked for the first time in ten years, I nodded. She didn't say anything, but instead looked over at Dad with the  _What are you waiting for?_ kind of expression.

"Well Feng Wen, as your professor I would be quite disappointed if you did not attend class for any reason outside of any medical problems or life emergencies." He said, his tone serious at first. Dad's expression softened to one of sympathy, though. "However... As your father, as well as understanding the circumstances, I would not blame you in the least bit if you wanted to stay home today."

Knowing that made me feel better about the idea of skipping school for just today, but there was that value of never missing school that was ingrained into my very being. I was always a lover of education, I would even cry if I had to miss class as a kid because I was sick with the flu. Another part of me also didn't want to appear a coward to the media, where they had already stretched so many things out of context to make their headlines. If I missed school, I feel like they would create another wild rumor that would just set me up for more anguish then dealing with a couple of fan girls.

"I think... I am going to school, today." I replied, after mulling it over for a few more minutes. "I hope I don't regret it, though."

* * *

Disguising myself while not looking obvious was always a daunting task, but it seemed to have gotten ten times worse when it felt like every girl was peering at every male with suspicious eyes. I even saw one guy get jumped by a couple of girls because he was wearing a gray hoodie like I did the other day. When they pulled off his hood, they were visibly disappointed and left him alone immediately. Thankful I had gone with large fake glasses as well as an oversized and ragged brown hoodie, which disinterested any girl that even glanced my way. _I'm glad Grandpa left some of his old, worn out clothes with us before he ran off to America with Grandma for 264th honeymoon. Or was it their 462nd? I can't keep track, anymore._

I was lucky to be the first student to arrive for Computer Programming, so no one saw me walk in but Professor Wing. As my classmates started to trickle in, it never seemed to click with them that the guy in grandpa clothes was actually me. Thanks to this success, I was able to have a normal class period filled with notes and attentiveness to the lecture. When class ended I still was the first to leave, because I was not going to risk the chance of even one of them realizing.

With some time before Dad's class, I decided I wanted to eat my lunch that Mom prepared for me. However, I couldn't eat with Hong Peng because everyone in the vicinity would know who I am; and I couldn't just sit by myself in cafe or cafeteria where I would stick out horribly.  _Oh, I could eat in an empty classroom! No one would bother me there!_ With stealth that would rival my aunt, I slipped into a small room with large folding tables and chairs. The room must have been used for events, as it had black tablecloths and white seat coverings on the chairs to give it a sense of formality. Not bothering to turn on a light just in case someone might check, I happily began eating the first of my three sandwiches.  _Mom is so awesome, she put three slices of cheese and six slices of ham on this!_

I was about to start on my last sandwich when I heard voices outside the door. Panicking, I grabbed the remainder of my lunch and dived underneath the table. I heard the door click open and saw the light turn on through the tablecloth, which thankfully seemed to have been hiding me as I was not noticed. Unfortunately the owners of the voices, which I realized were all girls, sat at the table I was hiding under. One by one I saw little feet in various types of shoes poke out from underneath the tablecloth and surround me; some with sneakers, some with sandals, and one with a pair of extremely bizarre looking high heels. I was lucky enough that I was able to condense myself to the little square I was confined in underneath the table, a square with each corner being a pair of feet.

"Alright ladies, time for the weekly  _Odd Squad_ _Club_ meeting! The schedule of the agenda is discuss recent events of  _Life 2.0,_ prepare for this month's  _All You Can Eat Meatbuns_ luncheon and to vote on next month's club event." Said one girl, the voice coming from the bizarre heels.

"You don't always have to announce the full name of the club, Pres. We all know why we are here..." Said the owner of the brown sneakers.

A pair of sandals close to me started to tap excitedly, bouncing dangerously close to my left foot. "Because we all admire the Odd Squad! Especially those two bishies, Professor Min and Prince..." The owner sighed dreamily.  _Oh God, why do I have to listen to this? I'm going to puke up my lunch!_

"Speaking of bishies, that finalist for the Battle Tournament..." The legs belonging to some blue sandals shifted around and the table creaked from weight, likely from her leaning forward onto the table.  _Oh no_ _..._

"You mean that Dark Prince!?" The owner of the first pair of sandals exclaimed, her tapping having stopped and the table creaked again from pressure being applied to it. "I didn't really know about the guy till I saw that rumor about him and Professor Min... Ugh, damn Professor Min and his stupidly hot face! First he went after Prince, and now he goes after another guy who is on the same level as Prince!"

"He's definitely on the same level, if not hotter. I've always liked the tall, dark and handsome types..." The girl with heels replied suggestively, causing a wave of terror to wash over me.

But the real nightmare began when the owner of some blue sneakers in front of me excitedly replied, "Guys, didn't you hear that he goes to school here? That's why we had all those reporters Monday!" She kicked her left leg upwards, hitting me right in the nose and making me hit the underneath of the table with my head. They all screamed when they heard the impact, and moved away from the table immediately.

I groaned, checking my nose to see if it was bleeding as I laid on my back.  _It's a miracle that my nose isn't bleeding, but now I have this throbbing headache..._ Dazed, I rolled onto my stomach and crawled out with another groan of pain. The tablecloths blocked quite a bit of light, so when the light of the room finally hit my eyes, it sent another wave of pain to my head.

"Who the hell are you!? Some kind of pervert?" One of them said angrily, walking over and ripping my hood off.

I rolled over on my back, holding my arm over my closed eyes to block out the light. "No... I was just eating my lunch and then-" But a collective gasp stopped me from finishing my sentence, one that sent chills down my spine. Quickly, I opened my eyes up to see five girls surrounding me with amazed expression, with one even looking like she was on the verge of passing out. I felt around my face as the horror struck me;  _the_ _glasses! My glasses fell off my face! They must be underneath the table from either when I got kicked or when I rolled over!_ I jumped to my feet instantly, ignoring my headache. "Uhm, anyway sorry for interrupting your meeting. I'll just see myself out and-"

"No, no, no! You don't have to leave! In fact it would be our pleasure if you joined us!" Squeaked the girl who was wearing the sneakers.

The girl with heels started inching towards me, which I slowly backed away in the direction of the door. "Yes, please stay... We'd love to  _have you_."

The way she said the last two words were emphasized in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable."I'm flattered that you are all big fans, and maybe sometime I can chat with you, sign an autograph or something. But now's not that time so-"

I felt my back hit the door, and the group of girls were slowly closing in. "No, we insist! Especially since I hit you, I am so sorry about that... If you come here I can kiss it better..." The girl who kicked me offered, getting up right against my chest and uncomfortable close to my face.

It was only for a moment though, as one of the girls grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back. "Who said you were going to? After all you kicked that beautiful face, you don't have the right!"

"You're right, it should be me who does! I am the president of the club, after all!" The girl with heels declared, now advancing towards me.

"Bitch, don't you  _dare_ think you can just because you made yourself president!" Another girl replied, grabbing her and punching her right in the jaw. In a matter of seconds a full on fist fight broke out between the group, completely ignoring my existence as they 'fought' over me. Not wasting the chance, I slipped out and made a run for it towards Dad's classroom.


	27. Chapter 23

With my glasses gone, I knew my face would be recognized quickly so I ran like my life depended on it. Of course, to my misfortune I had to be right with what seemed like half the school's female population tailing me. They shouted for me to stop or slow down, many yelled they only wanted to 'talk', while others were much more blunt with their real intentions- intentions that I don't feel comfortable repeating.

I rounded the corner only to meet with what I feared most, a whole horde of women surrounding the area around the door of Dad's classroom.  _Of course this would happen, all because of that damn rumor. They know I have a class with Dad, as well as with Hong Peng. And worst yet, they're all students so security can't do a thing about them..._  I didn't have time to think about a plan, as another group was soon going to be catching up with me.  _I'm just going to have to push my way through!_

Not giving it a second thought, I sprinted right towards the door, through the mob of girls that squealed when they saw me approach them. I don't even remember exactly what happened as I passed through as I was so focused about making it to the door, opening it with a bang and diving right through the entryway. I heard someone get up instantly as I landed on the floor, and run to the door to slam it shut. I looked up to see my dad with one of his rare scary expressions, irritated to a dangerous point.

Hong Peng then got up from his seat and offered his hand to help me, which I took gratefully. Only then when I stood up I realized I was missing something, "My hoodie!" I gasped, brushing my hands around my torso only to feel the soft cotton of my blue t-shirt. I looked down, noticing that my belt as well as one shoe had disappeared. "My belt! My shoe!"

Hong Peng sighed, his expression of incredulity one of the few things he shared in common with his child-like character, Zhi Sano. "What did I say before we logged off?"

"You warned me not to go to school...?" I replied sheepishly.

"You're impossible sometimes, Feng Wen." Hong Peng said, walking over to his backpack to rummage around in it. He pulled out out some sort of sack and handed it to me. "I knew you wouldn't listen so I brought an extra coat, just in case. I wasn't expecting them to take one of your shoes, though." Such a thoughtful gesture among the insanity of the day made me feel a bit emotional, but I willed myself not to tear up with my classmates watching. After all, God forbid the rumors that could pop up from that kind of scene...

The rest of the day went as well as you could expect. The entire classroom's attention was not on my father's lecture, but on me. I felt the intense stares of women ogling me with their eyes and men glaring at me because I had all the girls' attention. Finally the day came to an end and I sprinted to the nearest transporter (It was too late for me to hide myself, even with Hong Peng's coat).

* * *

Entering Infinite City was going to be a difficult venture, as many made the pilgrimage to see the finals in person. Fortunately when I logged on, a badge was sitting on my inventory that I could flash at the security to move through fairly smoothly. Also in my inventory was a little gift box, which read  _From Dad: Make sure to use this while you're in public, today!_  I opened the box to see what was inside, only to be sent into confusion. "Plastic wrap...?" I asked out loud, stretching out the plastic underneath the sun's light.

"That's no ordinary plastic wrap, Yi." Zhi said, jumping up from where he was sitting. We had stopped half way from Moon City to take a quick break, since we had sprinted out of the city gates to get away from a mob of fans. "It's a special item that if you wrap yourself in it, you can disguise yourself to look like someone else! Just wrap yourself up and say the name of who you want to look like! He gave me one as well!"

"Really?"  _That's a pretty nifty item._ I thought to myself, looking at the plastic wrap. I hurriedly started to wrap myself in it like a mummy, snickering to myself as I went.  _I wonder what Mom would think if she saw me wasting so much plastic wrap, she'd probably freak out!_ "Now to decide who I want to disguise myself as... It needs to be someone that wouldn't attract attention."

"That's going to be a hard one to figure out, since it seems everyone we know in this game stands out terribly..." Zhi replied, beginning to wrap himself up in it as well. He made a good point, since we tend to keep to ourselves.  _And that's because of the ridiculous attention we get, who knows who is a fake or not... And the people we have socialized with turns out to be part of the Odd Squad or associated with them!_ "Wait, I got an idea!" He shouted suddenly as he finished wrapping himself head to toe with the plastic. "Pretty Boy Archer!" He exclaimed, his body suddenly beginning to glow.

When I thought it couldn't get brighter, with it nearly blinding me at this point, there was a small explosion with Zhi giving a loud yelp. "Zhi!?" I asked tentatively, taking a small steps in his direction.

When the smoke cleared, Zhi wasn't there. Instead there was a handsome golden haired boy with green eyes rubbing his head, he was wearing a tan tunic with a green vest and brown boots that complimented his leather quiver on his back. "Damn, that really does hurt..." He mumbled in a soft voice. He looked over at me, noting my expression of confusion. His expression suddenly changed and I got slapped upside the head by the boy, but it didn't hurt in the least bit. "Sigh, if only I was stronger when I transformed. It's still me, stupid!" He exclaimed with a great deal of annoyance.

"Who did you even pick? Did you just randomly shout a name or something?" I asked, still a bit bewildered.

"No! I picked someone I met once when I joined a party to fight a boss. I doubt they're well known because I haven't heard from them or heard of them since that point." He replied as he dusted off his clothes. _  
_

"I'll do the same, then! Hmm, but who should I pick..." I said, contemplating my options.

* * *

"Do you forever want to curse me to be single?" Zhi grumbled, furrowing the eyebrows of his character. We had entered Infinite City with little problem because of our disguises and were currently making our way to the arena in the ridiculous mob of people. The only problem occurring seemed to be people stopping in the massive crowds to gawk at us, which caused the movement into the city to slow down. "Why in the name of Buddha did you choose a girl? And a pretty one at that!?"

"I thought that if I was a different gender, there would be a less of a chance of people figuring it out it was us! I couldn't think of anything else, anyway!" I whined back in the high pitched voice of the girl I chose, who I only met once in a raiding party. She wouldn't leave me alone, always trying to corner me and repeating her name as if I had the memory of a goldfish. She said it so much that it was burned into my head, so when I thought of a possible girl to play she was the first one that came to mind.

"Yeah well, a reason why I picked this guy was because he always had girls swarming him! I was hoping maybe I could experience that once in my life, you know!" He replied, pouting. "But since you choose a beautiful girl, anyone who looks at me doesn't bother because they think we're a couple!"

"What? Do you want me to announce we're not or something? Because we're definitely not!" I exclaimed, getting annoyed with Zhi constant pouting about women. "Trust me, being swarmed by girls is not what it's cracked up to be!"

We stopped at the entrance of the arena, which was swarming with people inside and out. Zhi sighed, and slapped me on the back, which caused a few onlookers to raise their brows (After all, they were seeing a man slapping a woman, even if it was on the back!). "Let's not argue over something trivial like this, I just get a little envious of the attention you get sometimes, you know? I know that you don't exactly enjoy it, either."

"Damn right I don't enjoy it! I lost half of my clothing, today!" I exclaimed, giving a bit of a pout of my own. I slapped him on his back in return, which sent him to the floor. "Oops! Sorry, forgot your stats are still the same." I apologized as I helped him back up. The onlookers were now backing away since they just saw a pretty lady slap down a grown man. "Don't worry about it, the right lady will come along eventually. For now, get up to your seat and watch me send my opponent to the rebirth point!" A wild grin expanded on my face at the thought of being so close to dueling Prince.


	28. Chapter 24

This was it.

I was so close to my goal, to face Prince, only one person stood in my way at this point. She stood across from me on the field, her dark brown hair swaying in the breeze of the beautifully simulated sky of  _Life 2.0_. My greatest challenge yet, as the sword that hung at her left hip was not a simple broad sword, or long sword, or even a dagger. It changed to various lengths as she pleased, the famed  _Chimera_ sword that there was only one of in the entire game, who was owned by none other than the dangerous Jezebel, a woman who was known more for being like an assassin than the warrior class she chose.

The crowd screamed and holler either of our names in excitement, the anticipation of the duel for the right to cross blades with Prince was high in the air. She stared me down, her bright green eyes demeaning me silently. I could care less, I wasn't going to let her tough act get to me. Instead I looked upwards, my reason for even being here sat lazily on his throne. This time, the rest of the Odd Squad sat with him, the first time I had seen the entire group in person. There was Ugly Wolf, who tended me when I had passed out from my battle with White Knight, with a familiar looking black haired woman sitting next to them. It was obvious they were some sort of couple, as she had her head resting on his shoulder and holding hands. I knew for a fact this woman was Yu Lian, Odd Squad's terrifying mage, yet for some reason I felt like I had seen her outside the game as well. Next to them was a cute little girl with red, braided pigtails that was squirming in her seat as she ate what looked like cookies. This was Doll, one of the most powerful Necromancers in the game which you would not expect from her appearance. In fact she was the first Necromancer in  _Second Life_ to summon Hell's Fire Dragon, a high level summon monster even at this time. Sitting in between Doll and Prince was Lolidragon, my aunt. She was whispering something in Prince's left ear till she noticed I was looking at her, which she gave me a huge smile and waved. I couldn't exactly wave back since that would reveal that we knew each other, so I gave a slight nod that could be mistaken for just a mere bobbing of my head from the sun.

I felt a deep frown thug on my lips as I noticed Dad sat at Prince's right side, no one else beside him and completely ignored by Prince. I kept my composure remembering the idiotic rumor surrounding us, even when Dad smiled kindly at me and mouthed, " _I'm rooting for you!"_

"Finalists Jezebel and Yi Min, are you ready to battle?" Prince announced, who I hadn't noticed had gotten up from his throne to stand. The crowd must have quieted down when he stood, as you could have heard a pin drop in the silence.

"I am." Jezebel said, drawing  _Chimera_ which glistened thousands of different colors in the sunlight.

I drew my short sword in response to Jezebel's action, "As am I."

"So you are." Prince replied, "Then I, the Overlord of the Central Continent, declare that the final match of the Battle Tournament has begun!" The crowd erupted in cheers when the signal was given. I took no time to wonder whether she was going to start offensive or defensive, as I had already known from research done that she was always the first to attack in any given situation. She actually had a fairly common play style, but her unpredictably came from her weapon. With a weapon that could actually  _change lengths_ and essentially change its own stats from that (Swords of different types and lengths will differ in weight and shape, which can influence speed, accuracy, stamina, etc...) it was like suddenly fighting a different kind of warrior every time she changed the sword.

I launched a flurry of strikes at her, which she blocked swiftly. As expected, she pushed me back and the sword started to grow in length till it resembled a broadsword. She began to make large swipes towards me, slow but filled with plenty of power behind it to send me half way to the rebirth point if I was hit. Begrudgingly I was forced to increase my distance from her, starting from a mid-range point to long.  _Even though she is sacrificing speed for a two-handed sword, she knows well enough that this will keep it out of reach from her body unless I somehow get right up on her._

I kept my cool, though. I figured that frustrating her opponent was a big part of her mind game, a kind of game every combatant had to potentially psyche out their enemy. With another one of my crazy plans in mind, I backed up from her as quickly as I could to increase the amount of distance between us. When the space was sufficient, I charged at her with my sword angled for a downward slash. I predicted correctly as she began to swing the broadsword horizontally, blocking the attack and possibly hitting me if I did not stop in time. I dropped down right before I got in her strike zone and slide forward like a baseball player would slide to home plate. I ran right into her legs, knocking her over flat on her back.  _  
_

She laid on her back with  _Chimera_  laying beside her, but she had not grasped for it yet. Curious, I stood up from where I was and cautiously walked over with my sword ready. She looked like she had been knocked out; my only guess being that she fell harder on her head than I thought originally. I leaned over her body, positioning my sword towards her neck.  _A simple slit of the neck should make this quick and painless._

She jerked suddenly, and in a split second I saw her grab  _Chimera_ to stab me in its dagger form. I noticed quick enough to prevent maximum damage, but she still was able to get a shallow hit left a small hole in my armor.  _Idiot, you should have kicked away the damn weapon before approaching! I just got this armor repaired, too!_ It was even more troublesome now because she specialized in daggers, her speed revealing those of the highest level thieves.

Most dagger users had two of the weapon, but ever since she obtained  _Chimera_ Jezebel had used one. She easily made up for what most players would see a disadvantage by constantly switching which hand she was using, something that also set her aside as unique in  _Life 2.0_. She made a multitude of shallow slashes at me with both hands, her speed making it appear as though she actually had two daggers. I blocked a couple of the strikes, but for the most part I was still able to dodge them- even if just barely.

_I have to somehow get her to change the sword again, because if this keeps up I know I'm going to lose._  While I was evading and blocking most of the attacks, she was trying to wear me down, a technique that most daggers users employed. I had learned from my battle with Lil' Angel that constantly moving was one of the best methods against the technique, but it isn't always possible either. As Jezebel and I moved around the field,with her constantly trying to get me in areas where my mobility would be decreased in some way in form. Normally it was pushing me in the direction of a wall, where I would only have a limited amount of direction to go from.  _What is with people trapping me against walls, anyway? It's not only happens here, but it happened in real life with that fan club too!_

It came to me that she had a pattern for her attacks, that after every third advance she would switch her dagger to the other hand to repeat the process.  _If I can break in while she switching..._ I concentrated my vision on her hands to prepare myself when she switched from her right hand to her left, as even though she could use both hands she was still weaker on her left. As soon as I noticed her left hand come up to meet the right hand, which was coming down from an angle in an attempt to slash me, I moved back and to her right. I put all my weight to jab her in right elbow with my own, to which the impact made a loud  _crack_.

To my glee, she was knocked down from the sheer force as well as her elbow being broken. However I was not successful in knocking  _Chimera_ out of her grip, as she was successful in switching it to her left hand in time to hold on to it. This time I was more careful and did not approach her immediately, instead I held my sword to slowly approach her. As I neared her though, she suddenly cried out, "Holy Transfiguration!" A bright light suddenly emitted from her direction, one so radiant it blinded the entire stadium. I suddenly felt a powerful force send me flying into a wall, taking out half of my HP in an instance.  _W-What the hell was that?_  The light slowly began to dim, however what I saw made me question if I was hallucinating.

"A hammer!?"


	29. Chapter 29

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Around Jezebel was an aura of light, but that wasn't the most mind boggling part. A hammer, a  _priest's_ battle hammer over seven feet long is what I now saw in her grasp. It shined of the golden color that  _Chimera_ had, confirming my only possible theory.  _So Chimera can change into more than just swords, though it requires activating a skill for it to transform... Which means it will only last for as long as she has her mana points, which shouldn't last long with her build. But_   _why did she choose a two-handed priest hammer of all weapons?_

My question was quickly answered as I rolled out of the way to avoid the sudden downswing of the hammer, which had so much force I felt the ground shake from the impact with the dirt.  _Her elbow! That skill must have healed her somehow, that must be why she used it!_ With my health bar now at half capacity, I knew the only way I was going to have a chance was to wait for her mana to deplete to get rid of the hammer and any other buffs that may have been added onto her. Thankfully I did have a little experience with priest hammers playing around with Zhi and his hammer that he never used.  _"I'm not a battle priest, even my name says I'm about healing!"_ I vaguely remembered him saying as I dodged another potentially fatal blow, this one aimed right at my head.

The minutes went on like hours, being on the defensive was a draining experience. I narrowly avoided a couple of strikes, one that was horizontal swing to my torso and the other where she tried to sweep out my legs. Thankfully the same type of physics still applied to the battle hammer as they did the broadsword; it was heavy and even slower than the broadsword, but behind it was so much force that with one more hit I would be back at the rebirth point. Finally  _Chimera_ started to shrink in size and take the form of a dagger, which was the moment I had been waiting for. The transformation between the battle hammer and the dagger was taking longer than if she used a normal change, leaving her momentarily unable to make an offense. Not wasting a moment, I sprinted right for her and started launching multiple attacks. She was able avoid the majority either through dodging or blocking, but with  _Chimera_ changing it's length and shape, I was able to slip in a few hits.

_At least she's at the point she was before she used that skill._ I was still disadvantaged from the entire event though, so I had to make a plan and quick of I was to win. Any time to think of one was gone as she had switched to using a broadsword again, her wide and massive swings pushing me back again out of range. She was zealous as ever with her strikes as ever, her entire body twisting whenever she made an attempt to strike me.  _She must be starting to feel desperate, because that is going to kill her stamina._ I jumped out of the way of a downward strike that with so much force it penetrated the ground. I was ready to make dodge another strike, but nothing happened. That's when I noticed that she was busy trying to pull the sword out of the ground!

_... And there's my idea!_ I thought wildly, unable to hide my grin. I rushed forward to her, but I was too late to take advantage of this moment as she had finally pulled out the heavy blade and preceded to make a swing that would have sliced me cleanly in half at the waist. I rolled under the swing to avoid it, but I didn't make another move.  _Come on... Hit me from above..._

She made a couple more horizontal strikes, one at my ankles and my neck, before she did what I wanted. I watched as she lifted  _Chimera_ _'s_ giant form over her head, beads of sweat rolling from her forehead to her cheeks as her resolve was weakening. She threw the sword down, to which I jumped back to avoid it. I did in the nick of time, the tip of the blade was three inches deep in dirt right in front of my toes. The dust cleared so I could see her dirty face, frustrated and on the brink of exhaustion.  _Now it's time to play with her head!_

"What's wrong? Your little toy got dirty?" I said in the smuggest manner possible. I stamped my right foot down on part of the exposed blade. "Or is it because you realized there's no way you can defeat me?"

She couldn't hide the split second of surprised from my words, before her face contorted with seething hate. "Shut up, you damn faggot!"

"Oh look, you can't even make a good comeback either! Damn, is there anything you can do?" I replied back, grating as ever.  _God, I feel like such an asshole._

**"ARGH!"** She growled, and started to pull  _Chimera_ out of the ground. Not wasting my chance, I started to run up the edge of the blade towards her.  _Thank God for good balance and good shoes!_ I thought to myself as I felt the blade cutting into the rubber soles of my boots, trying to gain distance on her. I suddenly felt the sword being lifted as she had ripped it out of the ground with all her strength, to which I used it as leverage and jumped off the sword. In something that could only be done in a virtual reality game, I jumped over her head and landed behind her. She didn't have enough time to process what just happened before I took my short sword and plunged it into her back, cutting through her spine and piercing her heart.

I let go of my sword, letting her fall to her knees. I looked around to see her glazed eyes filled with surprised before her body slumped forward, face first into the ground. I had noticed that the stadium's loud drone had been silent, presumably for some time. Her body finally went up in a ring of light, leaving my short sword by itself on the ground. I picked it up, wiped it off on the sleeve of my armor and then put it back in its sheath. As soon as I did the entire stadium went crazy, screaming and chanting my name.

Then the realization hit me,  _I... I just won. I won!_  I immediately twisted my head in Prince's direction, who was getting out of his seat to stand. "Citizens of  _Life 2.0_ _!_ " He bellowed, the stadium becoming silent at his voice. "It is with great pleasure I introduce you to the champion of Infinite City's Battle Tournament, Yi Min!" His words caused the crowd to rile up again, but they quieted down when they saw him gesture that he was not finished. He turned to fix his gaze on me, which I returned with great intensity. "Yi Min, I have watched you battle your way to this moment ever since your first battle, which took place in this very stadium. You have proven your swordsmanship countless times, and I would like to cross swords with you as well. What do you say to duel?"

"There's too many things I want to tell you with my blade to refuse." I replied, not hiding my displeasure.

For a moment it seemed like Prince was surprised, but he gave a large grin. "I look forward to seeing what you have to say! Then that settles it, two days from now I will duel with the champion in this very stadium!" He announced, the crowd exploding with excitement at the announcement. I turned away to walk towards the exit, seeing Zhi jumping around at the entrance flailing his hands with his thumbs up. However I was much too occupied with what would be happening two days from now,  _Just you wait, Prince. There will be nothing left to hide when I'm done with you._


	30. Chapter 26

The next two days were no less than a nightmare for my family.

The media went out of control with the announcement of me being crowned champion and the duel with Prince, swarming the school to hunt down Dad, Hong Peng or I. I wasn't allowed to go to school, or even outside the house because they were roaming around the blocks of my neighborhood because they knew that Dad lived there. Hong Peng's house became compromised because of the same problem, so he was staying with us till the media storm blew over. I didn't honestly mind being put under informal house arrest as much as how terrible I felt about Hong Peng and Dad still having to go to school themselves. On the evening of the duel, they both came out of the transporter looking like they had been through a war, their clothes messy and their hair disheveled.

"What in the world happened!?" I exclaimed as I rushed over to take their stuff from their hands. In the corner of my eye I saw Mom walk out of the kitchen to see why I yelled, and looking equally as surprised seeing such a site.

"I... I understand why you don't like girls chasing you now, Feng Wen..." Hong Peng mumbled, his eyes glassy.

"I haven't... Dealt with that since Infinite Band..." My dad also said quietly, staring intently at the floor. Mom walked over to Dad with an unusual mix of pity, concern and annoyance on her face. She guided him to the living room and to the couch to sit down, which I promptly followed her example with Hong Peng.

"Girls?" My mom asked, her annoyance now evident from the tone of her voice.

"Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. I was absolutely mobbed with demands of, 'Where's Yi Min?' and 'Show us where he is!' nonstop..." Hong Peng replied, now rubbing his hands through his hair with anxious eyes as he relived the memory. "When I didn't say anything or told them to leave me alone, they started to tug at my clothes and push me around! But Professor Min..." He looked over at my Dad, who was now having a staring contest with the coffee table.

"They broke my door! All my doors!" My dad suddenly cried out, and latched onto my mom.

"Your doors?" My mom asked as she put her arms around him to soothe him.

"My office door! My classroom doors! They even broke down the teacher's lounge just to get to me! Constantly trying to attack me with either affection or in spite because of Feng Wen!" He wailed, attaching himself even closer to Mom. "I've never seen so many girls arrested when security finally kicked in!"

"Now, now... It's over now." My mom replied softly, stroking his hair. "How about all of you watch some TV to relax, and I'll go finish up dinner?"

"Yeah... That sounds like a good idea." Hong Peng replied, sounding exhausted from today's events. Mom gave Dad a kiss, and then got up to walk to the kitchen. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, only to be met with a scene of news helicopters and vans surrounding XX University on the screen.

_**"The duel between Prince and the champion of the Battle Tournament, Yi Min, has been causing an uproar at XX University since yesterday morning and a headache for city officials."**_ A male voice on the TV said, _ **"The sudden growth of the crowd from yesterday caused a security breach in the school, resulting in six injuries and attempted assault on two faculty members, Professor Min Gui Wen and Professor Wing Tai Ying; and student Jun Hong Peng. XX University also experienced property damage that was totaled at..."**_

"Ugh, I can't watch this. I'm going to my office if you need me, boys." My dad groaned as he got up, walking to his office and closing the door behind him. I twisted my head to face Hong Peng, who looked even more tired than last time.

"I think... I think I'm going to the guest room and take a nap, Feng Wen. I can't keep my eyes open..." He mumbled, and shambled towards the guest room. Left alone on the couch with nothing to do, I figured I might as well continue to watch the news to found out what had been happening in the outside world lately. With that decided, I turned my attention back to the TV, which was now showing a man in a nice business suit sitting behind a newscaster desk with a older looking lady in professional attire, and a bespectacled man that looked older than my grandfather sitting next to her wearing a stuffy looking suit.

_**"Thank you Cheng Liang for the update on XX University. With the recent surge in public attention towards Prince and his Odd Squad, it seems more than coincidence that information regarding the Second Life Terrorist Attack has been declassified today, after much lobbying and pressure from other countries for the information to be released to the public."**_ The man in the suit said.

_Second Life... Terrorist Attack? They can't mean... No. Not after all this time, I find out like this!?_

_**"Almost forty years after the events, we can finally see the whos and the whats that resulted in the near domination of the world. Joining us today is Dr. Park Ming Yue, modern historian at XX University who was the first to view the declassified files. It's good to have you today, Dr. Park!"** _

_**"Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here."**_ Dr. Park replied, his voice gentle and mellow.

_**"The pleasure is all ours. Now tell us Dr. Park, what exactly happened? To my understanding, the terrorist attack actually lasted longer than public opinion originally thought?"**_ The woman asked.

The professor leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin. ** _"Yes, much longer in fact. The younger generations know little to nothing about the events that happened in 2101, mainly because the government has been so vigilant in keeping it quiet and many older generations have simply forgot about it as it seemed more like a failed attempt than anything. But actually, the world governments had been hijacked a good month before the terrorist was subdued."_**

The man in the business suit seemed astonished. _ **"And**_ **who** _ **exactly was the terrorist? There have been many theories, but the authorities never gave names or publicly made charges!"**_

_**"To many this will not come as a surprise, but the terrorist was none other than Long Dian, Second Life's creator."** _

_**"What!?"**_  I shouted, so loud that my voice cracked.

"Is something wrong, dear?" My mom called from the kitchen.

"Nothing, Mom!" I hurriedly replied, and turned down the TV a bit to make sure she couldn't hear anything.  _Long Dian...?_

The female newscaster seemed as shocked as I was. _ **"Long Dian of the famous Long family? The owners of Second Life and Life 2.0?"**_

_**"The very same."** _

My mind was reeling,  _I'm related to Long Dian? Oh Buddha, I'm related to a terrorist!_

_**"So how was he able to hijack the world governments? And for what reason?"**_ The man asked.

Dr. Park frowned. _ **"Well Mr. Chen, the leading theory is now is that he was mentally unstable because of his traumatic childhood, where he was orphaned and tossed around by family members till Mr. Long took his nephew in."**_

_**"What a sad fate. No wonder he turned out the way he did."**_ The woman replied solemnly.

Dr. Park nodded in agreement. _ **"Indeed, Ms. Yan. As for how he was able to hijack them, he used the very thing he created for the public to use against them: Second Life."**_

Mr. Chen was astonished once more. _ **"You don't mean the fabled NPC revolt was actually the start of the terrorist attack, do you!?"**_

_**"That is exactly what I mean. Long Dian went and took over the program that is the most powerful AI to date, The Dictator of Life, to hold the world governments servers hostage. There was an attempt to kill the Dictator of Life in Second Life, which would have prevented this merge between creator and creation. This was lead by Prince and his cohorts, but ultimately failed when according to witnesses of the event Prince's character was finally assassinated by another NPC that Long Dian took over."** _

_So Prince had previous knowledge of Long Dian's plan, but failed to prevent it..._

_**"But this isn't the last we hear of Prince, is it?**_ Ms. Yan asked.

_**"Not in the least. With the help of Dr. Min Gui Wen and Dr. Zhou Long Bing, the Long family attempted to keep Long Dian from taking the Dictator of Life outside of the game, but were unsuccessful in that as well. A month goes by with the world governments being held hostage and having to give into Long Dian's demands before a plan was made in attempt to stop him. Very few names are known of who was in the party that finally stopped Long Dian, two of which are in the spotlight right now. Prince and Dr. Min Gui Wen."** _

_Dad...? Dad can't even throw a good punch, but he went fighting against a terrorist with a super powerful AI on his side!? But then..._ I furrowed my brow as I felt anger bubble up inside me,  _He said Prince was in that too... Prince in real life!_

**_"So what happened to Long Dian? How did they subdue him?"_ **

**_"After many severe injuries to the party members, Prince was the one who slayed him."_** Dr. Park replied.

Mr. Chen looked blown away. _ **"Wow, Prince was a warrior inside and outside the game. CBC was lucky enough to get a hold of some of the surviving footage left of the battle, which we will now play. Viewer discretion is advised, as this is untouched and uncensored footage; just like it was shown when it was first broadcast."**_

I couldn't believe what I saw next. The TV image flickered and showed a circular silver room with black flooring, covered in blood. All over the walls laid bodies in armor, also caked with blood. Some were slumped up against the wall, others were down on the floor. I couldn't tell if anyone was alive or not, but from what Professor Park implied there were no deaths. The camera focused on three individuals still standing, two in light armor and one that towered above them with an all too familiar face.  _Long Dian!_

One of the individuals in the armor was holding their helmet in their hands, but I was unable to see their face as the camera was behind them. The person had a short boyish cut, and was standing quite close to Long Dian. Long Dian looked confused, as if he couldn't make up his mind on something, "Prince..." Long Dian said softly.

The individual, who I presumed was Prince, moved closer to him. As soon as Long Dian started to move his hand, I instantly knew something was wrong but Prince didn't make a move. By the angle and speed of his arm, Long Dian was going for his chest, as if he was going to snatch up his heart right out of it with his hand. Instead, the second individual, who was taller than the first and wearing their helmet, launched themselves in between Prince and Long Dian. Long Dian's hand actually penetrated their chest, close to their heart. If it had been any closer, that person would have been dead on the spot. The individual was pouring out blood at an alarming rate as they tumbled to the ground, which knocked their helmet off and revealed their face.

**_"DAD!"_**   I screamed at the top of my lungs, slamming the off button on the remote and throwing it aside. My mind was panicking and irrational as I ran to his office and slammed the door open. I found him sitting in his chair at his desk, a book in his left hand with a pen in his right, writing down something on a piece of paper.

"Is there something wrong!?" He asked, looking perplexed and alarmed. He had shed the coat of his suit from earlier and was just wearing the white button up shirt underneath it, which had one or two buttons undone at the top. The start of his red and purple scars on his chest were showing, scars that I now knew the truth about.  _There was no accident! It was because of Long Dian! No... not just Long Dian..._ My mind was racing, and my emotions were threatening to explode any moment.  _Why didn't Prince attack Long Dian when he had the chance? Why did Prince just stand there and let my father who has a weak constitution take such a blow?_

"Feng Wen...?" My dad asked again, getting up from his chair to come over and embrace me. I felt the raised scars on his chest against mine, which I knew ran from below his collarbone to the middle of his stomach.  _This is all too much. Why are you such a curse to me, Prince?_ I felt a lump in my throat as my eyes started to blur. My dad continued to hold me as he stroked my hair, much like mom stroked his own earlier. "It's alright, I know this is all very stressful to see and deal with. But don't worry, Hong Peng and I are fine. All you need to focus on right now is that duel tonight, okay?"

Hearing that did make me feel better, even though that wasn't the main force behind my outburst. "Alright, I will."

"Now I know what makes you feel better, a good meal! Let's go see if your mom is almost done!" My dad replied upbeat.

* * *

The remainder of the night was quiet, with everyone going back to their rooms after dinner. I don't know what caused the silence among my family- My battle with a man tangled up in all of our lives or the unnerving feeling I felt that wasn't being caused by time creeping closer to the finale of my journey. Kenshin had already left earlier in the afternoon, and we wouldn't see him till late tomorrow evening more than likely with him working with uncle Fox. After I said goodnight and went to my room, I climbed into my bed and picked up my gaming helmet. I stared at it, looking over its red plastic casing and tinted plastic visors.  _Honestly it's only been a month since I started playing this game, yet it feels like its been much longer than that. It's pretty hard to believe I went from a nobody to being famous in that short stretch of time. Even with all the good things that have come from this game, I miss the old days._  I placed the helmet on my head, and turned it on. I started to feel drowsy as I laid my head down.  _After this match, I'm sure things will become more like it was before..._


	31. Chapter 27

I was kidding myself when I thought the coverage of the Battle Tournament finals was huge. It seemed like the arena was busting at the seams with people, with individuals standing outside the arena cheering or jeering whenever they heard Prince's or I's name being said over the speaker. On the sidelines of the arena, there was news coverage in literally every language spoken in the world, with reporters snapping pictures and sharing gossip with each other. I stared out the window at the scene from the room I was resting in; a kind of VIP room that was attached to the entrance I would be going through when it was time.

"I knew the media would go crazy but this is ridiculous!" Zhi suddenly called from behind me, I turned to find him leaning against the entryway, his little arms folded across his chest. The entryway was guarded with two soldiers, and the hallway it connected to was under maximum security so not a single reporter could slip past. Zhi sighed and walked over to flop on the plush red couch in the room. "I guess it's to be expected, though. You're kind of a big deal, and you're kind of battling a super big deal who owns the continent."

I made a disgruntled face, "Thanks for relieving the pressure, man. And how did you get in here, anyway? Even if you are my only companion in this game, I would expect them to be pretty tight about letting people in here."

Zhi smiled coyly, "That my good friend, is because of a certain relative of yours!" And he turned to look at the entryway again. As if on cue, a moment later the door opened to reveal my dad, out of breath and looking slightly disheveled.

"Dad, are you okay!?" I asked as I hurried over to him to give him some support.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I've been running back and forth all morning, basically." He huffed, trying to catch his breath still. "Making sure everything is prepared, evading the paparazzi- You know, the usual. When I heard you got to your room, I ran from Prince's hall from the other side of the arena to here, and then some reporters tried to corner me-"

"Dad, I understand! You don't need to explain, it's pretty obvious how crazy it is out there." I assured him.

As he caught his breath, he looked at me and smiled. "I told you I'd be here at the end, didn't I? I wanted to see you off, so that's why I came."

I returned his smile, "Yeah, you did. But Dad..." I trailed off, as I wasn't sure if or even how to ask my question. My thoughts from earlier, and now this made me only think more on what would happen after this match. I never really considered it, as I was so focused just getting to this point.  _Now I'm here... But what happens when I get my answers? What will change, and what will stay the same?_ He looked at me, patiently waiting for my response. "Is there anything that will go back to normal after this?" I finished, my voice giving away my concern.

Dad didn't seem to have been expecting that, looking a bit shocked by it. After a moment, he looked at me with a serious expression. "I don't know, son. I don't see much of anything ever going back to how it used to be."

_That's exactly what I didn't want to hear._  I thought, as I felt a deep frown form on my face. Another head popped through the door, it being the familiar face of my aunt with the only difference from her real self being her ears. Even though she saw all of our faces, which were all somber in some form, she gave her signature wild grin. "Hi there, boys! Sorry to break up the party but it's time! Feng Wen, get out there and kick some butt!"

I looked at her, slightly confused. "Shui-yima do you really not care if Prince lost? You and Prince were the co-founders of Odd Squad, so I thought you were pretty close..."  _I mean Dad and Prince are really close, to my great displeasure, and I can tell it bothers him that we're fighting each other._

My aunt giggled, looking at me with those eyes full of secrets I didn't know. "So? It's about time someone knocked some sense into Prince's head, and who better than my nephew!"

_Shui-yima, you never cease to surprise me._ I thought to myself. Zhi elbowed me, nodding me towards the door with a  _"Get going, slowpoke!"_ expression. I greeted him goodbye with a light punch in the shoulder, since I had no intention of killing him. I then turned to Dad, whom I grabbed into a hug. I absently slipped into my own thoughts as he wrapped his arms around me, noticing the lack of raised scars on his chest through his thin tunic.  _If it wasn't for Prince, you would be like this in real life too..._ The idea only made my rage against Prince flare up, which I could finally act upon.

* * *

I didn't notice the crowd bursting with noise as I left my gate, or the cameras on the sidelines recording every step I take. I was completely focused on the figure standing across the field from me, his bright white hair and red armor shining in the sunlight. I wasted no time, my strides lengthening as I got closer to him. He didn't flinch as I stopped inches from his face, glaring into his blood toned eyes. He never wavered, only returning me with a gaze with equal intensity. The crowd grew quiet as they watched our staring contest with awe.

"I will  _never_  forgive you for what you have done to my father." I whispered loud enough for only him to hear. "These crowds may cheer and fawn over you, but you will always be scum to me."

I expected him to say something equally as harsh, or give me a nasty expression, but instead he reacted in the strangest way. He had a pained and hurt expression as he replied, "It seems you still don't know... After this, I will explain everything to you."

"The duel between the champion of the Battle Tournament and the Central Continent's Overlord is about to commence!" My aunt announced. Prince and I both looked over in the same direction, to where he had watched me win the Tournament only a day ago. Instead of his throne, there was a row of plush chairs on the platform. All of them except two were occupied by the members of the Odd Squad, the exceptions being Zhi (Who was obviously not part of the Odd Squad.) and my aunt who was standing at the moment. Seated next to Zhi was my dad, who I had never seen so anxious in my life. "Gentlemen, are you ready?"

I took a step back as I drew my sword and snapped my head to face Prince. He had done the same thing, our stare-down continuing from where we had left off. "Yes!" We exclaimed at the same time.

"Then the duel will begin in three..." My aunt began the count down. I readied my stance, quickly running over the possible moves Prince would start off with. "Two..."  _Will he make the first move, even? Will he start offensive or defensive?_ "One..." Prince shifted into his famous stance, standing completely erect with his dao pointed towards me.  _I never understood why he did that, that puts him in a terrible disadvantage no matter what he starts with._

"Start!" Shui-yima yelled, the crowd roaring over her as the first syllable left her mouth. I attacked first, reasoning that since Prince had an aggressive play style, he would have a weak defense. I made a diagonal strike, a good move to test the waters against an unknown opponent. What I wasn't prepared for was the strength of Prince's counter, which almost caused me to buckle to my knees as I blocked his parry.  _I knew he was powerful, but I never imagined this even at his level!_ I grit my teeth as I pushed him off me, but he immediately went for a horizontal strike at my chest with speed I had never faced before. I knew I wasn't going to block it in time, so I dropped down and rolled backwards onto the ground. I jumped back in time to block a downward strike at me, to which I shoved my weight towards him to push him back.  _  
_  
We continued with both of us sending in a flurry of slashes and strikes at one another for what seemed like ages, always being parried or block by the other. Even though we were at a complete stalemate, I felt completely exhilarated. Dueling Prince was totally different than any battle I had ever been in, someone who didn't follow the standard form of fighting. A fighting style that was on level of my own, which had prevailed over the others with logic and reasoning.

It seemed like I had finally had the advantage when Prince went in for another angle attack, but was stopped when his dao landed in the edge between my hand guard and blade.  _Now I can close in, and pull him towards me to deal a critical blow!_ I thought wildly, and I began to reach for his left arm. As soon as I grasped it though, I suddenly couldn't see or breath.

_S-Smoke!?_ I broke my grip on Prince, completely blind as I backed away from him. I heard Prince starting to cough violently, and the crowd going into an uproar. All of the sudden, I was grabbed from behind and felt something sharp being pressed into my neck. I tried to twist my head to see behind me, but the sharp object was pressed deeper into my skin, making me wince from the pain and blood trickling down my collarbone.

* * *

**Prince's PoV**

_"Lolidragon, what the hell is going on!?"_ I said in the team chat, hoping that if she didn't answer someone would. Feng Wen's block had created an opening I wasn't expecting, and he had grabbed my left arm. As soon as he grabbed it, the entire place went up in smoke, burning at my eyes and lungs. I felt Feng Wen let go of me suddenly, and I staggered backwards.

" _Prince, Feng Wen is...!"_ Gui screamed, his voice in absolute panic. I looked up, the smoke starting to clear to show the stadium once again. Instead of one figure, there were two in smoke, one quite taller than the other that was right against it. To my horror, the taller figure had Feng Wen gripped against them with a dagger against his throat.

The smoke cleared to reveal that feminine face that I knew all too well.  **"Fan, you bastard! Why are you here!?"**


	32. Chapter 28

Fan smiled evilly, pressing the blade a little harder so Feng Wen would wince. I noticed there was already dry blood caked against his neck, which enraged me even further. "Why... I'm getting my final revenge on you, Prince. That's what it looks like, doesn't it?"He said nonchalantly, as if I asked him about the weather.

"Let him go, Fan." I heard Gui warn, his voice ominous. I turned to find him behind me, his expression dangerous in every sense of the word.

Fan lowered his head against Feng Wen's ear, but continued to look at us with a smile. In a voice loud enough so Gui and I could only hear, he said, "Did you hear that, boy? Daddy wants me to let you go!"

Gui lost all the color in his face, "H-How do you...?"

"Don't take me for a fool, Guileastes. One look at him and I knew who his father was, especially since I know who his mother is..." He replied, his smile turning into a grin.  _What has happened to him? He has completely gone off his rocker since we last saw him!_

"Argh, this is stupid!" Feng Wen exclaimed, who was visibly annoyed with this whole ordeal. However, his annoyance was changed with confusion, "Why can't I log off? I can't log off!"

_"Yang Ming, go check on Feng Wen in his room!"_ I called out to my brother in a P.M.

_"Shui Han just logged off to go look!"_ He replied, anxiety lacing his voice.

"Of course you can't, silly boy. Do you think I would allow that when I have planned this moment since the day I first met you?" Fan replied, tightening his grip on my son.

"The day we...?" Feng Wen turned his head ever so slightly to look up at his captor, his eyes widening. "You're the one who gave me the entry money! How could you have known I would make it this far!?"

Fan chuckled softly, "How could you not? After all..." He leaned into Feng Wen's ear even more, and whispered.

* * *

**Feng Wen's PoV**

_"You're Prince's son."_

_"W-What...?"_ My voice cracked, my mind trying to process such an unreasonable statement. I stared at Prince, his face full of fury as he glared at Fan. It didn't make sense, none of this made sense. Min Gui Wen was my father, Fan even said it himself! " _ **You're lying! You're a damn liar!**_ _ **You just want to screw with my head, don't**_ _ **you!?**_ **"**  I screamed at him, struggling to push the dagger away from my throat.

_**"Prince, he's not there! He's gone!"**_ I heard my aunt cry at the top of her lungs, I turned my head as far as I could to see her face contorted and streams of tears down her face.

"What have you done with Feng Wen's body, Fan!?" Prince exclaimed, baring his teeth.  _M-My body is gone...?_

"Well it wouldn't be a proper hostage situation if I didn't take his real body, too." Fan replied indifferently.

Prince gritted his teeth, rage reaching levels I don't think even the Odd Squad had ever seen. "W-What do you want from us, Fan? What are you accomplishing from this?"

"What am I accomplishing...? Why, making you suffer of course! I only want two things from you: That you pay for the amount of pain you have put me through, and for you to disappear, Prince. _Forever_. I want you to give up everything here and never play again; I want to see you never mentioned again, I want your very being erased from existence. And I know you can make that happen-"

**"Would you kindly _shut the hell up?"_**  A familiar high pitched voice rang from behind. I heard a gust of wind before I was sent flying to the side with Fan. I landed right beside Fan, who looked dazed and confused from the sudden force.

"Zhi!" I cried happily, looking over to where we were to see none other than Zhi Sano, panting and holding a hammer that was three times his height. Prince rushed over and jumped on top of Fan, grabbing him by the throat. Dad followed Prince, but stopped at me to check to see if I was okay, which I assured him I was outside of the battle fatigue from battling Prince and the cuts on my throat from where the dagger was.

**"Tell me where he is, you little shit! Or else I am going to find you personally and rip you to pieces!"** Prince roared, slamming the hilt of his dao into Fan's cheek.  ** _"Answer me, damn it!"_**

Fan smiled arrogantly, blood trickling out of his mouth and down his jaw. "It seems there has been a change in plans, so I'll have to cut this short. But don't worry Prince, this won't be the last you see of me." He replied, his body disappearing instantly.

Prince fell to his hands and knees, staring in disbelief at where Fan had been before slamming his left fist into the ground. My mind was still reeling from everything happening so quickly, but what Fan whispered in my ear resonated the loudest. ' _You're Prince's son.'_ "Prince...?" I asked softly, watching as he turned to me with grief-stricken eyes.  _Where have I seen those eyes before...?_

"Prince!" I heard my aunt shout as she sprinted out into the field to us. "Fan must have been the one who got into the system the first time! Someone got in again and messed with the signals to Feng Wen's helmet, causing him not to get notifications of outside disturbances as well as being unable to log off!"

"But how did he know where we lived?" Prince asked, looking as though he might be on the verge of panic.  _We?_  "And how in the world did he even get in- Kenshin. Kenshin left today with Arctic Fox, and the Dictator of Life is inside the game right now as well. But how did they know..."

A crazy thought hit me, something absolutely irrational.  _No, no! That's impossible! But he knows about Kenshin, and Fan said..._ I shook the thoughts out of my head, rationalizing this wasn't the time for this. However, because of the thoughts I was reminded of an instance not too long ago. "Ah... Excuse me." I said politely, causing everyone present on the field to turn at me. "About a week ago when I went to the bus stop with Hong Peng, I could have sworn someone was watching me as I walked back..."

Dad and Shui-yima looked at each other, sharing the same expression of  _'I knew it!'_  Shui-yima was the one to speak, "Feng Wen, I need you to listen to me. We have made it so you can log off now, and as much as I don't like it, I need you to log off so we can trace your location and find you."

I nodded, "Alright. I'll see you guys on the other side, then." I responded confidently.  _It's not like refusing and staying on here is going to help me._

Prince came over to where I was sitting, suddenly grabbing me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I was stunned and flustered beyond anything I had ever felt before, especially since this was happening in front of live TV for millions of people to see. "Please don't do anything rash, I'm coming to bring you home..." Prince whispered anxiously in my ear.

"I-I won't?" I replied, feeling extremely confused as to why I found Prince's embrace so comforting. Without a further thought, I logged off not knowing where I would find myself at.


	33. Chapter 29

I woke up unable to open my eyes, as they were being bounded closed with what felt like a piece of cloth. Thankfully I was able to use my other senses, determining I was in some sort of cellar or basement from the cool temperature and musty smell. I heard footsteps right next to my bed, so I dared not even show a sign I was awake in fear of what they might do if they knew.

Whoever was next to me sighed sadly, "Why won't the boss let us touch him while he's asleep? It's not like it's going to wake him up with his helmet malfunctioning." The individual, which I recognized as a woman, lamented. "He's so handsome... It's not like I'm going to hurt that pretty face of his!"

"Argh, If I let you play around with him for five minutes will you shut the hell up? But if you leave any sort of mark in him, the boss is going to have our heads!" Said a male voice from across the room.

"Oh goody! I knew you'd see it my way, Shing!" The woman replied excitedly. I then felt fingers run across my cheek and down to my collarbone, as well as her breath against my face.  _Don't react, Feng Wen. You're asleep, just pretend you're asleep!_  I had to prevent myself from panicking, which was hard to do.

"Damn cougar..." Shing mumbled under his breath.

She must have turned her head as I didn't feel her breath anymore and was hit by what felt like hair. "Shut up you bastard, I'm 23 years old! You're just jealous you don't get the kind of attention he does!" She turned her head back to me, and started to stroke the loose hair that was sticking out of the helmet away from my face. "Hm, I don't think a kiss would hurt him, would it? Oh to see the look on my girlfriends' faces if I told them I kissed Yi Min, Battle Tournament Champion and world famous for his looks!"  _No! No, no, no!_ I started to panic in my head,  _I am not going to lose my first kiss to a harlot like her, scheming with evil men!_ I felt her breath get stronger, now smelling her lunch of some kind of geng.

Irrationally putting my first kiss before my safety, I moved my head to the side and yelled,  **"No!"**  While I did successfully stop it as she did not move any closer, now feeling her breath on my ear, I made the room completely silent. Suddenly, I felt fingers wrap themselves around my blindfold and rip it off, revealing light that I was not prepared for. Once my eyes adjusted, it revealed I had turned my head in the direction that every individual in the room was. What I mainly saw was a woman who was neither pretty or ugly, but very plain with a lot of make up on. I also saw a man that was built like a brick wall, wide and thick with muscle like a brawler. The other man I saw was very skinny with little muscle on him, and had a pointy face like a rat. They all wore an astonished expression, with the rat-looking man's turning into a scowl. "... Shit."

* * *

**Xiao Lan's PoV**

I, as well as the rest of the Odd Squad, logged off as soon as Feng Wen disappeared from my grasp, causing my heart to ache even more. I immediately jumped out of my bed, with Gui following closely behind, running towards our son's room to prove what was happening to my still disbelieving brain. Unfortunately it was true, with Feng Wen's door broken right off the hinge, his laptop stolen and his bed in shambles. My mind was threatening to shut down, my heart wanting to just sit down and sob as my baby boy having been taken from me, but part of me knew that this was not the time for it. I felt Dictator of Life's presence as he came out of the game and back into the house.  _If we hadn't have had to limit his presence to one place because of Long Dian, Dictator of Life could have been in the house as well and alerted us of it taking place..._ I couldn't believe I was reliving my old grudge against Long Dian, but since it even affected me nearly forty years later... I shook off the thoughts, reminding myself once again this wasn't the time for it. "Dictator!" I called out.

"Yes, Xiao Lan?" He asked gently.

"Call Xiao Xiao Lan, Zhou-gege, Arctic Fox and Kenshin. I have no idea what we are up against, so I want all the help we can get." I commanded. Dictator of Life immediately went to work, popping up three windows that all started to ring. I went to my study and to one of my many bookshelves. At the very top of that shelf I found my first novel,  _1/2 Prince_ , the novel I wrote about my adventures but was unable to publish, and tugged on it as if I was taking it out. It only came out half way, and instead caused the shelf to sink back into the wall and slide away behind another shelf, revealing the contents behind it. A suit of light-weight armor was on the wall, the armor I wore when I fought Long Dian and various other evildoers after him. Of course throughout the years I had it upgraded as the technology came along, but it was the same armor regardless. Below it was a small glass case hanging on the wall as well, containing my light sword. Not sparing another minute more, I grabbed the equipment and suited up; ready to disable and maim anyone who got between me and my son.

I walked out of my study with my helmet under my arm and my sword clipped to my left hip to find Gui, Lolidragon and my brother also suited up. While I knew well enough that Lolidragon and Yang Ming could hold their own on the battlefield, finding Gui in the armor almost caused me have a panic attack, the images of him taking the hit that sent him into a coma and months of rehabilitation flashing through my mind. "Gui, what are you thinking!? I'm not allowing you getting into a fight!" I exclaimed.

Gui looked hurt by my rebuke, but determined nonetheless. "I don't want to fight with you Xiao Lan, but you can't expect me to just sit at home twiddling my thumbs when our son is out there having God knows what happening to him!" He replied firmly. I bit my lip, unsure how to respond.  _No, I could never expect that of you. If you did that, I would probably think you were not my husband anymore!_

"And I'm going too!" Replied a familiar voice as the door to our guest room opened. Hong Peng, who I had forgotten was staying with us with all the insanity that was ensuing, walked out in his street clothes and backpack on his shoulder. "There is no way I'm going to sit around while my best friend is in danger!"

"And how would you even help? You don't even have armor for combat!" Yang Ming replied, running his eyes up and down Hong Peng.

"While I may not have armor, I am a second-degree black belt in Wudang* that was trained under the legendary Deshi Cheng!" Hong Peng replied proudly, knowing he had proven his point.

"Deshi Cheng, the three-time Champion of the World Wushu Championships?" My brother gawked at Hong Peng, and then darted his eyes back to me.

I smirked, finding this little bit amusing. "Well then Yang Ming, I suppose you should grab him a set of armor. I know we are in good hands if my pupil* was his mentor!" Now it was Hong Peng's turn to gawk, but I wasted no time to revel in the entertaining exchange. I turned to Lolidragon who was busy with her computer tablet. "Lolidragon, do we have a location down yet?"

"Just about... Yes! Looks like he was taken about 45 minutes away from here in the slums of the city, 1414 Zheng Street. Looks like it's an abandoned warehouse about three stories tall, two basement floors. This particular building is known for all sorts of illegal activities, from drug dealing to gang wars taking place in the actual building." She replied, running her finger down the tablet as she spoke.

Hong Peng was now suited up, which meant we were now ready to depart. As I placed my helmet on my head, the Dictator of Life came up to me. "It seems that the individuals that Mr. Fox and Kenshin are currently targeting seem to be located in the same warehouse. Statistically it is highly likely that the individuals they are chasing are the same ones who kidnapped Feng Wen, as the criminals are recorded as mercenaries who are frequently involved in kidnappings. Lan Lan and her husband are on route to the warehouse as well."

I nodded, glad to know we had some possible information on what we were up against. "Dictator, upload the files to my helmet's database." I readied my light sword as I turned to face the door, "We're off to hunt some mercenaries."

* * *

It only took 20 minutes with Lolidragon's driving, each minute closer causing my stomach to clinch even more in distress.  _I haven't fought in real life in a very long time... In my age will I be able to even battle like I used to? No... I shouldn't think about that. My son's life is at stakes, I can't worry about something like my age at this time!_ Lolidragon's car squealed to a stop as everyone in the car lurched forward, our seatbelts the only reason we hadn't flown through the windshield.

"We're here!" Lolidragon said excitedly, unbuckling quickly and stepping out of car.

Everyone in the car but Hong Peng was used to her driving, who crawled slowly out of the backseat clinging to his stomach. "H-Has she always driven like that?"

Yang Ming looked at him with pity, "Oh, goodness no! She was a lot worse when we were younger!" Such an idea caused Hong Peng to turn white as a sheet.

Arctic Fox, Kenshin, Xiao Xiao Lan and Zhou-gege were waiting about twenty meters away from the entrance of the abandoned warehouse. The warehouse was just as condemned as you could imagine one to be, its windows and doors boarded up with graffiti covering nearly every bit of the building. As I got closer it smelled strongly of burnt wood and plastic, probably being closed down to begin with from some sort of fire. "How long have you been here?" I asked when I got close enough to the group.

"We both arrived about the same time, around five minutes ago. We saw you guys pull in when we got to this point, so we waited." Zhou-gege replied, to which Arctic Fox and Kenshin nodded in agreement.

"Then lets not waste anymore time. Arctic Fox, Kenshin and I will take the front of the group. Gui, Xiao Xiao Lan and Hong Peng, I want you to be in the middle. Everyone else I want watching the back." I commanded, as though we were about to invade another castle in  _Second Life_.

"Why am I in the middle!? Mom, you know as well as everyone else here that I can fight!" Xiao Xiao Lan complained, looking very displeased for being in the safest part of the group.

 _Of course I do, her fighting style is a mirror of my own! But..._ I placed my hands on her shoulders, my heart clinching at the thoughts running through my mind. "Please Lan Lan, it's to ease my mind. Your brother is already in danger, I can't stand the thought of something happening to you as well."

Gui backed me up, brushing his hand up against her cheek. "I feel the same way, Lan Lan. I would have rather have you at home instead of out here, but just like me I know you can't bear the thought of just waiting around."

Xiao Xiao Lan saw she couldn't argue against us, and sighed in defeat. With a nod, she walked over to be between her father and her husband.  _A good place to be, if you ask me._ Not wasting a minute more, we pushed aside the wood that was blocking the entrance to the building and went inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wudang is one of the main schools of Chinese martial arts.
> 
> When Xiao Lan talks about a pupil, this is a reference to the sequel to the 1/2 Prince novels, where in the last chapter it is referred that she is a master of the martial arts and an adviser to the world wrestling guild.


	34. Chapter 30

The burnt smell only got worse when we were inside, with my theory about the building being proven correct. The inside of the warehouse was blackened, showing that the building was merely an empty shell as charred wooden beams and ash covered bricks laid scattered about the cement slab of a floor. There was signs of habitation though, with fast food wrappers and other types of trash lying about as well. As we moved forward, evidence of criminal activities started to appear with dirty needles and empty bullet shells on the floor as well as makeshift tables from the charred wood.  _They really pick the classiest place for a kidnapping, didn't they?_ I thought sarcastically to myself.

Suddenly we heard something that sounded like a brick being kicked around. The entire group tensed up, stopping in place to look for what caused the sound. I turned on my light sword, its radiance brightening the dim lighting of the building. When I swung it in the direction where the sound came from, I found a startled fox staring right at me. The fox scurried away from us, disappearing behind a large pile of debris that went up to the ceiling. Everyone but Arctic Fox and Kenshin let out of a collective sigh of relief, and we continued to move. Out of curiosity, I lead the group toward where the fox disappeared, using my light sword to help me see better. That's when we discovered two sets of stairs, one going up and the other going down.

"Well it's obvious there is nothing on this level," Gui said softly. "so they have to be either upstairs or downstairs. Unfortunately that's a lot of ground to cover with a total of four floors if you don't include this one."

"Lolidragon, is there anyway your locator can tell us what level he is on?" I asked.

She looked at her tablet, but shook her head. "No, sadly. We never saw the need of outfitting these devices with altitude detectors."

"Arctic Fox? Do you have any prior information from your organization?" I started to become desperate. Arctic Fox shook his head as well, a slight frown forming on his face.  _It will take hours to search all these floors top to bottom! And by then... Feng Wen could..._ I didn't want to finish the thought. _  
_

"Then that means we should split up, so we can search the building faster." Gui announced, "Arctic Fox, Kenshin, you take the upper basement floor. Lan Lan and Ling Bin, you take the second floor. Yang Ming and Shui Hun can take the third floor; which leaves Xiao Lan and Hong Peng to get the bottom basement floor. When someone finds Feng Wen, set out a distress signal so we know where to go."

Everyone nodded in agreement except for me, "And what about you, dear?"

Gui gave a shy smile, "Well I guess I'll stay on this floor, shouldn't I?"

"Like hell you are! Hong Peng, you stay with my husband! I'll be fine by myself." I said sternly.

"But Xiao La-" Gui tried to argue, but I cut him off.

"No buts! I stood alone in the end against Long Dian, and have fought many villains since him. These mercenaries will be nothing." I assured him, but he didn't seem to believe me. He knew better than to argue with me when I had my mind made up, so with that I followed Arctic Fox and Kenshin downstairs. I turned off my light sword in hope I could just sneak up or past any enemies I might encounter. There was no windows in the basement levels, making it pitch black. I turned on my night vision in my helmet, giving me a crystal clear image of Kenshin's long red hair that was in front of me. Neither Kenshin nor Arctic Fox needed night vision, with Kenshin's eyes being electronic and Arctic Fox recently having the same type of implants in his corneas. I said farewell to them as they got off the staircase at the upper level, and I continued to descend further into the bowels of the building.

It wasn't long before the staircase ended into a long corridor, covered in dust and smelling strongly of mildew. I stepped lightly through the corridor, trying to reduce the echo my footsteps made as much as possible.  _This is unsettling. For a building with its kind of reputation, why haven't we seen anything but a fox yet?_  As I was halfway down the long corridor, farther ahead on the left there was a small ray of light emitting from a crack underneath a door. I quietly leaned up against it from the side, making sure not to project a shadow with the suspicion of there being people in it. I heard a couple of muffled voices through the door, but what caused my heart to race was hearing a familiar voice yelp, "Please, no!" With haste I kicked the door with all my strength, breaking it right off its hinges.

* * *

**Feng Wen's PoV**

I was dragged off the bed, re-blindfolded and restrained to a chair with my arms bound by one rope with my wrists bound together by another. Even though they said their boss didn't want them to touch me, they handled me so roughly I felt bruises on my body from when I was tossed to the floor, and then to the chair. My skin prickled when I felt the hands that had been running across me so suggestively from earlier touching my jaw and then running up to my temple. She giggled in my ear, "My, my. What a naughty boy!" I felt her turn her head, "Don't you think we should punish him? After all, he saw our faces!"  _You're the one who took the blindfold off!_

I heard a deep male voice reply, "I don't know how we can, Pipa. The boss said we can't touch him, didn't he Shing?"

The man named Shing grunted, "Yes he did, unfortunately. I'd personally like to rearrange that pretty face of his with my fists!"

Pipa let out a sinister giggle, sending chills up my spine. "Well I can think of a few ways of punishing him without leaving a mark..." _  
_

Sing scoffed in disgust, "Do what you want, you vile woman."

"Oh, it'll be my greatest pleasure! This will be much better than a kiss..." She cooed, putting her hand on my cheek. She ran her hand down my neck and to my collarbone, where the top of my pajama shirt was.

When I felt the buttons on my shirt being undone, that's when the horror of what she was doing struck me. "Please, no!" I cried, trying to struggle out of my bindings. Suddenly I heard a huge crash from my right, and a sudden gust of air.

* * *

**Xiao Lan's PoV**

What I saw next was a mother's worst nightmare. There was Feng Wen, my baby boy, tied and blindfolded to a chair, his hair messy and his pajama shirt half undone. Next to him was a harlot of a woman, who looked like she was in the midst of undoing another button on him when I arrived.  **"You take your filthy hands off him, you whore!"**  I screamed as I lunged for her, sending her to the ground with me on top of her.

The impact of her hand hitting the concrete floor knocked her unconscious, but that didn't stop me from giving her a beating till someone exclaimed, "Who the hell are you!?" I stood up and turned around to face the speaker, who was a rat-looking man who was in sheer disbelief of what just happened. Beside him was brick wall of a man, large and wide with muscles, also looking shocked at my existence.

I slipped my light sword out, flicking my wrist to turn it on. "Your worst nightmare." I replied coldly, "If you value your lives, I would suggest you leave at this very moment."

The large man was trembling the entire time, and ran out as soon as I finished my sentence. The rat-looking man stood there a second, obviously nervous. Then he gave a wide smirk, and went off running. As he ran, he called out, "Fine! But have fun dealing with the robots!"  _The robots...?_

I brushed it aside, and turned to face my son who was still bounded and blind. I knelt down and undid his blindfold first, and then went to work on the ropes.

* * *

When my blindfold came undone, I had to get used to the light once again. Once my eyes had adjusted, I saw someone in familiar looking armor and helmet. Even though they were busy working on the ropes, they noticed me watching them. "I'm so glad you're okay..." They said softly, the helmet obscuring me from detecting whether they were male or female even by their voice.

"But who are you?" I asked dumbly, my brain still recovering from the adrenaline pulsing through me.

As if on cue, another familiar voice called out from the communicator on their wrist. "Prince!"  _Prince!?_   _He really did come for me! But why...?_

"What is it, Lolidragon? I just found Feng Wen, and currently untying him!" He replied, now working on the binds on my wrists.

"It was a trap! There are robots all over this abandoned factory, and were activated just a few moments ago! We need to get out of here!" My aunt replied, sounding anxious.

"Where is everyone?" Prince asked urgently, undoing the rope around my wrist. I stretched my arms and looked over the rope burns on my wrists.

"Yang Ming and I just got down to Lan Lan and Ling Bin's level; Arctic Fox and Kenshin have just cleared out their floor and are heading towards you. The basement seems to have the greatest concentration of robots, so you'll need all the help you can get!"  _Lan-jiejie? Zhou-gege? Uncle Fox?_

"What about Gui and Hong Peng? Where are they!?" Prince asked, his voice expressing panic.  _Why are Hong Peng and Dad here!?_

"Hong Peng removed Gui out of the building as soon as he heard a commutation from the below and above him. They contacted Nan Gong Zui, so the authorities should be here soon as well." My aunt replied. Prince relaxed his shoulders and sighed in relief, expressing how I felt completely.  _The last thing I need is either of them getting hurt at my_   _expense_.

"Alright, we're on the way then." Prince turned to me, "I want you to stay behind me at all times, do you understand?"

I was in no position to argue, since I had no weapon and was wearing pajamas. "Okay."


	35. Chapter 31

I never imagined that Prince would be as good as he is in real life as he was in the game. As soon as we exited the room we were surrounded by robots of all kinds, though rusted and discolored.  _This place must have manufactured robots, and these were just left behind when it was abandoned._  I thought to myself as I looked around at the corridor we entered. It was incredibly long and wide from what I could tell with the dim lighting provided from the robots. Prince immediately drew his light sword, illuminating the corridor even more to reveal we were surrounded by six of the machines. He sliced the heads off two of the robots to his immediate right, and uppercut the robot directly in front of him; slicing it cleanly in half. The robots finally started to make a move, clamoring towards us at a fairly slow speed. Prince dispatched of them quickly, cutting two in half at their torso and drop kicking the last.

Prince looked down at the robot he just smashed into the ground. "Huh, these robots aren't that ba-"

"Prince, watch out!" I yelled, noticing in time another robot had moved in while Prince was preoccupied with the others. I rushed past Prince and ankle swiped the bi-pedal robot. As it fell, I put all my strength in an elbow jab to its head. The sheer amount of force sent the robot's head flying, its circuitry still sparking out from where it was still connected a moment before. The bone on metal did leave a nasty throb in my elbow though. "Well at least I fared better than the robot." I grumbled as I rubbed my elbow.

I could have sworn I heard Prince saying something along the lines of,  _"Oh yeah, I forgot he could do that."_ Before I could ask, Prince grabbed my hand and rushed down the hall. We met other robots along the way, but since they came in fewer number they were easy to take care of between the two of us. When we were half way down the corridor, I realized that the robots had stop coming for us.  _Where did they all go?_  I suddenly ran into Prince, his helmet hitting into my chest.  _Is Prince really that short?_ I looked past him to see what stopped us: A tall figure stood before us, the darkness obscuring their face. The figure raised their left hand, and snapped their fingers. The lights of the corridor flickered on to reveal the face of my kidnapper, Fan!

"You have a lot of nerve to show your face after what you've done, Fan." Prince growled menacingly as he raised his light sword towards Fan. _  
_

"How could I resist not coming to meet  _his majesty_ in person, again? I think this is a perfect place for you and that forsaken child of yours to disappear!" Fan hissed back, pointing at Prince and then me respectively. He looked exactly as he did in-game, even to his robes which struck me as slightly odd. He even was holding a sword that looked like would belong in the game, a brilliant silver blade with the handle laced with gold.

"If you come quietly Fan, I promise I won't leave you maimed as you rot in prison!" Prince replied, his hands trembling in pure anger. I moved quietly away, knowing a fight was imminent.  _Fan has a sword and surely some type of armor, making any sort offense by me utterly useless. If this is an old rival of Prince's, surely Prince can handle him alone,_  I reasoned.

Fan showed an evil smile, his eyes darting to me. "I don't think I'll be going anywhere, Prince. Your legacy ends here, and I'll start with your heir!" Fan was suddenly in front of me, the end of his blade approaching my chest at frightening speed. I didn't have time to say a prayer or even think that I was about to die, as Prince suddenly pushed me out of the way. I watched as Fan's blade penetrated through Prince's armor, right under where his collarbone would be. I stood frozen in shock and horror as I watched Fan smirk as he bent over Prince's body, "I knew you would do that. Now you've given me the pleasure to kill you in front of him!"

_**"MOM!"**  _I screamed, my mind threatening to unravel itself. Fan ripped off the helmet to reveal long, dark brown hair and the face of the one who brought me into this world.

Her face was contorted in pain, her brown eyes seething with hate as she looked up at Fan. "Y-You bastard..." She weakly made out. Fan began to lift his sword up for a downward strike, but I stopped him as I rammed myself into him. I grappled for his sword as we wrestled on the ground, but he was unusually strong and pushed me off him with great force and knocked me into the wall next to Mom. Without even thinking I grabbed the light sword that laid on the ground and blocked a downward slash that Fan had attempted to make on me.

I wavered a minute under his strength, but thanks to the adrenaline pumping through me I pushed him back.  _This is life or death, and I sure as hell am not going to be the one dying!_ I stood up, feeling my body tense up as it prepared for battle. I felt my mind clear as I focused onto Fan, who looked surprised by the sudden change of demeanor.  _Remember how you fight in-game, this guy is nothing to you. He doesn't even deserve a clean death._  I lunged for him and sent a flurry of shallow strikes, to gauge his fighting style. He met every single one with a block with inhuman speed, causing the suspicion I had since I first saw him grow stronger.  _I know I'm not as fast as I am in game, but that was definitely nothing to blink an eye at!_

I already knew how strong he was, so I didn't bother trying to gauge his strength.  _I'm going to have really use my head to win this, my strength is useless here._ I thought to myself, which also gave me an idea. I started to make a move like a diagonal strike, to which Fan promptly rose his arm to block it. That's when I swept out his ankles, sending him tumbling to the side. In that split second, I took my sword and slashed at the wrist of his sword arm, taking it clean off. But there was no blood, instead there was just wires sparking out of his arm where his hand was a moment before.

"A robot!?" I heard Mom exclaim in a feeble voice.

I walked over and kicked the damn thing in the side for good measure. "Fan, you spineless coward! I knew it wasn't really you as soon as I saw this damn thing!" Suddenly the left hand of the machine clenched onto my ankle with crushing strength and pulled me down to the floor.

Caught off guard, I was dazed from the impact my head had with the floor. Suddenly my mom screamed as I felt something grab onto my neck and lift me up, a sense of deja vu cropping up on me. "I don't see the problem here, why should I have to put myself in harm's way when I can just send a robot to do so for me?" I felt the hand around my neck get tighter. "I can still watch as this machine takes care of the likes of you and Prince!"

"You won't get away with this, Fan!" I choked out, my airway getting smaller and smaller.

"Oh? And who's going to stop me?" He cackled, tightening around my neck even more. I started to feel lightheaded as the room seemed to get dimmer, my mind started drifting off to other things.  _Mom... Dad..._ _  
_

"I will." A cold, monotone voice suddenly called out. I felt myself drop to the cold cement floor, my airway completely open again. I looked and saw the dismembered left hand of the Fan robot lying on the ground, taken off by none other than Kenshin and Uncle Fox! The robot had a stunned expression before Kenshin sliced off its head, with Uncle Fox slicing its torso in two for good measure.

Uncle Fox walked over to Mom and checked her wound. "You're lucky," He said, sounding cool and collected as ever. "he barely missed your major artery. But the bleeding is still heavy, so we need to move." He turned his head to look at me as if he was trying to determine the severity of my injuries as well.

Ignoring the sharp pain in my ankle, I ran over and gently lifted Mom into my arms. I made sure that her wounded shoulder was next to mine, so my body could contribute pressure to slow the bleeding. We walked slowly down the now empty corridor because of my ankle as well as Mom's wound, and I refused to let anyone carry her but myself.  _She's my mother, and I will take care of her! Especially since she..._ I didn't want to finish the sentence, as it hurt even to think about.

Mom was silent till we reached the ground level of the building, where we met up with the rest of the group with the exception of Hong Peng and Dad, who were outside. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way..." Mom whispered to me, "I meant to tell you everything afterwards..."

"Huh?" I was first confused as to what she was talking about, until the full realization of what happened earlier hit me.  _Prince. Mom is Prince._  I had unknowingly stopped walking, causing the rest of the group to stop and look back at me in confusion. I looked down at Mom, who looked ashamed.  _All this time I've..._ _I've said terrible things about her. I said terrible things to her! No wonder Prince looked so hurt when I said the things I did earlier..._ She shouldn't have been the one who felt ashamed, but instead me. I noticed my gray pajama shirt was becoming a dark red from the blood that was seeping out of her wound, causing me to remember this was not the time for these things. I started to walk again, quickening it from earlier as I had wasted enough time already. "Mom, please don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry. I said terrible things to you, and because of me you're hurt now..." I replied, my heart starting to weigh heavily.

"I know they were directed at Prince, sweetheart. And you're my son, I'll protect you no matter what." She whispered back, grabbing my face with her good hand to give me a kiss on the cheek. When we finally exited the building, it was surrounded by police cars with a couple of ambulances as well.

I saw Dad and Hong Peng talking to the sheriff next to his car, but quickly saw me with Mom as well as Lan Lan in return. My Dad's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head when he saw the three of us, leaving the Sheriff in mid-sentence to sprint over to us.  **"Thank God you're all okay!"**  He cried out, his eyes welling with tears as he came over to embrace us.

* * *

The following days were hectic, to say the least. Uncle Fox was right about Mom's injury, with the doctors at XX Hospital repeating essentially what he said and that she was expected to make a full recovery in about a month. I was left with a fractured ankle, a minor concussion and some nasty bruises; so I came out better than expected since I collapsed after putting Mom on the gurney for the paramedics.

When Mom was better, we gave our testimony about what happened in the basement to the Sheriff (Who turned out to be Nan Gong Zui! He looked like he could be my age!), to which he said the authorities would do their best to track him down to bring him to justice. However even though Nan Gong Zui was in charge of the investigation, the search was proving difficult as Fan covered his tracks well, including using an untraceable IP in-game. Needless to say, this was not the last time we were going to see Fan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued in its sequel: Imbroglio


	36. Meatbun Special

Meatbun was just having another day in Mommy and Gui's house, where he lived with Firebirdy. Mommy had woken him up, gave him some meatbuns Mommy made for him to eat and then he played with Firebirdy. He had done this routine for years now, but unlike years past Mommy started going back to where Meatbun was born, a place that Mommy first called  _Second Life_ , but now called  _Life 2.0_. Of course this also meant Mommy would always go back to how Mommy looked when Meatbun was born, a very handsome elf that was called Prince. With Mommy constantly changing back from the handsome elf to a pretty human always left Meatbun unsure whether Mommy was a boy like Meatbun-bun or was a girl like Firebirdy, but he didn't care because Mommy was always Mommy.

While in the kitchen with Mommy, he heard a door open and close with a set of footsteps approaching the kitchen. He turned around to see his little brother, Feng Wen. You see, Mommy had gotten married to Gui like Meatbun married Firebirdy, then Mommy started coming home with babies and told him that Mommy was their mommy too. So, Meatbun figured, that since they all shared the same mommy that they were siblings! Meatbun was a good big brother, and was always happy to see his little sister Lan Lan or little brother Feng Wen, so he happily hopped over onto the kitchen table where Feng Wen was seated.

"Good morning, Feng Wen!" Meatbun greeted as he bounced around in front of Feng Wen.

Feng Wen smiled and grabbed him up, giving him a slight squeeze to which Meatbun gave a small peep. "Good morning, Meatbun! Did you eat a lot of meatbuns already?"

"Twelve!" Meatbun simply replied, causing Feng Wen to look quite stupefied.

"M-Meatbun..." Feng Wen trailed off, even after sixteen years he was always amazed of the small creature that could eat as much as him.

"How has school been, Feng Wen? You haven't really talked about it too much lately, is everything okay?" Mommy asked, turning around from the counter top she was preparing Feng Wen's lunch on.

Feng Wen tensed up, squeezing Meatbun a little tighter. "Well, uh... Yes. I have been making good grades!" He replied hastily.

Mommy looked at him skeptically, walking over and sitting down at the table. "I'm glad you're making good grades, but that doesn't mean your school life has been going well. Are your classmates treating you well?"

"... I wouldn't say they're treating me badly..." He replied cautiously.

"What about girls? Have you found a girl you liked? Are you having problems with a girl?" Mommy pressed.

"..." Feng Wen was silent, unable to break away from Mommy's intense gaze, which a lot of people were unable to do whether Mommy was Prince or Min Lan, her pretty human form.  _"More like girls..."_  Feng Wen mumbled.

It seemed like Mommy understood what Feng Wen meant, which Meatbun did not. Mommy glared and began to tap on the table with Mommy's fingers. "So girls at school are giving you trouble? Is it because of this?" Mommy stopped the finger tapping to pick up a tablet that was at the other end of the table, tapping on the screen a couple of times before sliding it over to Feng Wen and Meatbun. Meatbun jumped down out of Feng Wen's hands to look at the screen, which showed a bunch of girls in Infinite City running after what looked like Feng Wen, only his ears were like an elf.

"Maybe..." Feng Wen replied shyly as he too looked at the picture, that also had words at the top that Meatbun could not read.

The picture gave Meatbun a sense of Deja Vu, to which the little bun tried to remember why it felt so familiar. An old memory flashed by of Meatbun with Mommy as Prince, being carried as Mommy was running away from a bunch of screaming girls. Excited and wanting to share this memory, he exclaimed "Mommy used to be chased by girls too!"

Mommy's face quickly went pale as Mommy stared at Meatbun, making Meatbun wonder if Mommy suddenly felt sick from possibly eating too many meatbuns with Meatbun the night before. Feng Wen on the other hand looked very perplexed, shifting his gaze from Mommy and Meatbun before finally settling on Meatbun. He picked Meatbun up and bringing him to eye level, as if inspecting him. "What in the world are you talking about, Meatbun?"

Meatbun stared into Feng Wen's face, but he was not thinking of an answer to give Feng Wen. Instead he was thinking how much Feng Wen looked like Mommy as Prince. Feng Wen also looked kind of like Gui, but that was the only thing that made Feng Wen's face look differently from Mommy.  _I wonder if Mommy thinks Feng Wen looks like Mommy..._ Meatbun thought. Unable to wait for an answer, Meatbun turned around to face Mommy. "I think Feng Wen looks like when Mommy is a boy! What does Mommy think?"

"What!?" Feng Wen exclaimed, now even more confused. Before he could question the little bun further, Mommy grabbed Meatbun out of Feng Wen's grasp and covering his mouth in one motion.

"Silly Meatbun, did you mean Feng Wen looks like Gui when he was a boy?" She laughed nervously, "You must be still sleepy from when I woke you up, earlier. To answer your question, I agree! He looks very much like his Dad when he was younger. We can even compare their pictures later, if you want!"

Feng Wen looked at Mommy and Meatbun as if he understood better, but was still a little bewildered. "But I always thought Lan Lan looked more like Dad..."

"Feng Wen, look at the time! If you don't get ready for class you'll be late!" Mommy suddenly exclaimed, jumping out of her seat with Meatbun in hand to rush to the counter top.

Startled, Feng Wen looked at his watch and hurried out of the room so he could get ready for school. But now Meatbun had more questions about Feng Wen, such as if he was going to see Feng Wen in  _Life 2.0_ and if Meatbun could play outside of the castle with Mommy like he used to. But this time he would wait, since it seemed Mommy wasn't ready to answer those kinds of questions yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Make sure to give me feedback on what you think about this story! There's nothing I love more than seeing what someone loves about, and there's nothing more important on hearing what could be done to make it better.
> 
> I was recommended to this site by a friend, telling me I should post my fics on here. I thought, "This place seems cool, so I will!" And here I am, stumbling around trying to figure out the site! This story is already complete and with a sequel on another site, but I will be uploading the chapters from it as fast as I can since they're so many. So please be patient as I continue to figure out the site, and don't be afraid to talk to me!


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